Last Updated on May 27, 2007 7:15 pm by admin
MIAMI (AP) -The New York Mets continued their mastery of left-handers with a four-run fourth against Florida starter Scott Olsen, carrying them past the Marlins 6-4 on Sunday and to a three-game series sweep.
David Wright had two hits and an RBI and Carlos Beltran walked and scored twice for the Mets, who swept a three-game series at Florida for the first time since October 1993. The Mets improved to a major-league best 18-7 on the road.
Miguel Cabrera had two hits, including an RBI double in the eighth, for Florida. Miguel Olivo had two hits, including his third home run of the year.
Mets starter Jorge Sosa (4-1) scattered five hits and two runs in 5 2-3 innings for his fourth win in 23 days. Billy Wagner pitched the ninth for his 12th save and 30th straight dating back to last season, extending the Mets’ franchise record.
Olsen (4-4) breezed through the first 3 1-3 innings, retiring 10 straight after Reyes doubled to start the game. But the Mets broke through against Olsen in the fourth.
Phillies 13, Braves 6
ATLANTA (AP) – Ryan Howard went 3-for-4 with a pair of two-run homers, Greg Dobbs added another two-run shot and Philadelphia completed its first sweep of the season.
Howard and Dobbs hit two-run homers in the first before the Phillies put the game away with seven runs in the fifth.
The Braves have lost 10 of 14 to fall to 12-13 in May. The Braves, in second place in the NL East, are only two games ahead of the third-place Phillies, who are 22-13 since starting 4-11.
Cole Hamels (7-2) gave up six hits and three runs in six innings. He had eight strikeouts and walked one batter.
The Phillies had four extra-base hits in the first inning off Kyle Davies (2-3). Rollins tripled and scored on Howard’s homer just inside the right-field foul pole. Aaron Rowand doubled and scored on Dobbs’ homer to right.
Pirates 14, Reds 10
CINCINNATI (AP) – Jason Bay capped Pittsburgh’s five-run first inning with a three-run homer, Freddy Sanchez drove in a season-high four runs and Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati for the third straight game.
Jack Wilson added a two-run homer and the Pirates set a season high for runs.
Kirk Saarloos (0-4) failed to retire any of the seven batters he faced in his second start of the season for the Reds, who saw their season-high losing streak reach six games.
Adam Dunn hit two of the Reds’ five homers. He went 3-for-4 with four RBIs. Edwin Encarnacion, Alex Gonzalez and Chad Moeller also homered.
Zach Duke (2-5) allowed seven hits and five runs, three earned, with one strikeout in his first win since beating the Reds 6-3 on April 8. He was 0-5 in eight starts between wins.
Nationals 7, Cardinals 2
ST. LOUIS (AP) – Ronnie Belliard had four hits including a two-run homer for Washington, which took two of three for their first series win over St. Louis since 1999, when the franchise was in Montreal.
Leadoff hitter Felipe Lopez added three hits and Ryan Langerhans hit his first career grand slam – also his first homer of the season – off Randy Flores to cap a five-run eighth that included two hits, three walks and a bases-loaded wild pitch.
Albert Pujols had three hits for the Cardinals and is 22-for-45 (.477) during an 11-game hitting streak that has raised his average 63 points to .302. Scott Spiezio homered in the eighth for St. Louis, which completed a 4-2 homestand.
The Cardinals wasted a strong start from Adam Wainwright (4-4), who allowed two runs and seven hits in seven innings.
Saul Rivera (1-1) allowed one run and two hits to pick up the win.
Padres 3, Brewers 0
SAN DIEGO (AP) – Jake Peavy held Milwaukee to two hits in seven innings and hit an RBI double off Jeff Suppan and San Diego finished off a three-game sweep of the NL Central-leading Brewers.
Adrian Gonzalez added a solo homer for the Padres, who won for the 10th time in 13 games.
It was the first time the Brewers were swept this season. Milwaukee, which opened the season at 24-10, lost its fifth straight game and were defeated for the 12th time in 16 games.
Heath Bell and Trevor Hoffman finished up the combined three-hitter, with Hoffman picking up his 15th save in 17 chances and extending his career record to 497.
Peavy (7-1) lowered his major league-leading ERA from 1.63 to 1.47 while striking out eight and walking one.
Suppan (6-5) allowed three runs and six hits in six innings, walked six and struck out three.
Diamondbacks 8, Astros 4
PHOENIX (AP) – Carlos Quentin hit a two-run home run and Arizona beat Roy Oswalt for the first time, handing the Astros their eighth straight loss.
The Astros have been outscored 66-16 during their longest losing streak in six years.
Livan Hernandez (5-2) allowed 11 hits in his 43rd complete game and first since Sept. 9, 2005, for the Washington Nationals against San Francisco.
Oswalt (6-4) blanked the Diamondbacks for four innings but got hit hard in the fifth and seventh. Hew allowed six runs, five earned, and 10 hits in seven-plus innings. He had been 6-0 in seven career starts against Arizona.
Arizona broke it open with a four-run seventh. Oswalt faced three batters in the inning without recording an out before giving way to right-hander Rick White. The Diamondbacks scored on RBI singles by Alberto Callaspo, Eric Byrnes, Mike Reynolds and Jackson.
Dodgers 2, Cubs 1, 11 innings
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Andre Ethier hit a game-tying home run in the eighth, and Juan Pierre got hit with the bases loaded in the 11th to force in the winning run for Los Angeles.
Guzman (0-1), working his third inning of relief, opened the 11th with walks to Ramon Martinez and Wilson Betemit. Martinez advanced to third on a delayed steal before Carlos Marmol replaced Guzman with a 1-0 count on Rafael Furcal. Marmol walked Furcal intentionally to set up a force everywhere, but his 2-2 pitch bounced and hit Pierre in the left knee.
Chad Billingsley (3-0) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win after two hitless innings by Jonathan Broxton.
Derrek Lee snapped a scoreless tie in the eighth against reliever Rudy Seanez with an RBI single.
Left-handers, Randy Wolf and Chicago’s Rich Hill each pitched six scoreless innings of three 3-hit ball.
Rockies 6, Giants 4, 10 innings
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Barry Bonds broke out of a lengthy home run drought Sunday, hitting his 746th career homer in the sixth inning of a loss to Colorado to pull within nine of Hank Aaron’s career record 755.
Bonds’ 12th homer of the year was his first in 15 games since a shot off the Mets’ Tom Glavine on May 8. The two-run drive pulled the Giants within 4-3.
Former Giant LaTroy Hawkins gave up Bengie Molina’s tying single to right with two outs in the eighth after Bonds drew a full-count walk with a runner on first.
Steve Kline (0-1) allowed Todd Helton’s leadoff single in the 10th and was responsible for pinch-runner Kazuo Matsui, who scored on Troy Tulowitzki’s single.
Ramon Ramirez (2-1) pitched the ninth for the win as Colorado completed its first three-game sweep in San Francisco, and first in the series since May 24-26, 2002, in Denver. The Rockies have won five in a row for the first time since July 2-6, 2004.
END