Milwaukee Brewers' Ryan Braun watches his RBI double against the Cincinnati Reds in the eighth inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2012, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
August 09, 2012 - 1:28 AM
MILWAUKEE - Ryan Braun snapped an 0-for-18 slump with an RBI double in the eighth inning, lifting Milwaukee to a three-game sweep of Cincinnati with a 3-2 win Wednesday.
Jonathan Broxton (1-1) started the eighth with the Reds leading 2-1. He retired the first two batters before an infield single by Norichka Aoki. With Carlos Gomez up, Aoki stole second and took third on catcher Dioner Navarro's throwing error. Gomez hit a soft liner that just got over the outstretched glove of shortstop Wilson Valdez and Aoki scored to tie the game.
Gomez stole second and Braun followed with a sharp liner into left to drive in Gomez.
Broxton had given up only three hits and no earned runs in his last four outings.
John Axford (4-6) of Simcoe, Ont., pitched the eighth for the win and Calgary's Jim Henderson got his second career save in as many days.
The Reds' fourth straight loss matched their season-worst set June 18-22.
GIANTS 15, CARDINALS 0
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Marco Scutaro hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high seven runs, leading Ryan Vogelsong and the San Francisco Giants romped past St. Louis.
Scutaro had an RBI single in the third, a two-run double in the eighth and then hit his third career slam, connecting in the ninth off Mitchell Boggs.
Ahead 2-0, the Giants broke it open with five runs in the sixth. They turned the game into a rout with four runs in the eighth and four more in the ninth.
Vogelsong (10-5) gave up three hits in seven innings. He has gone at least six innings in all 21 of his starts, the longest such streak for a Giants pitcher since Bill Swift did it 24 straight times in 1993.
Joe Kelly (2-5) took the loss.
DODGERS 6, ROCKIES 4
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chad Billingsley shrugged off an inside-the-park home run by Eric Young Jr. on his fourth pitch of the game to win his fourth straight start, Matt Kemp hit a three-run homer and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Colorado to avoid a three-game sweep by baseball's worst pitching staff.
Billingsley (8-9) was charged with four runs and seven hits in 6 1-3 innings and struck out five against a starting lineup that included five rookie position players.
Ronald Belisario pitched a hitless eighth and Kenley Jansen got three outs for his 22nd save in 28 chances.
Carlos Torres (1-1) took the loss.
PADRES 2, CUBS 0
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Clayton Richard threw a five-hitter and San Diego swept Chicago.
Richard (9-11) held the Cubs to five singles and pitched out of trouble three times to hand Chicago its eighth straight loss.
Richard struck out five, walked one and hit a batter as the Cubs had a runner reach third base three times.
Chicago scored four runs — all in Tuesday night's 7-4 loss — and had 15 hits in the three-game series.
San Diego's runs came on Will Venable's RBI double in the second inning and Yonder Alonso's run-scoring single in the eighth.
Richard has three career complete games and two shutouts.
Jeff Samardzija (7-10) allowed one run and four hits in seven innings. He struck out five and walked two.
PIRATES 7, DIAMONDBACKS 6
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Neil Walker homered and drove in five runs, Kevin Correia won his seventh straight decision and the Pittsburgh Pirates overcame four errors to beat Arizona
Walker hit a three-run homer in the first — his career-high 13th of the season — and added a two-run double in the fifth to give Pittsburgh the lead for good.
Correia (9-6) allowed three earned runs in six innings in his first start since the Pirates removed him from the rotation after they acquired Wandy Rodriguez.
Jordy Mercer hit his first major league home run and rookie Starling Marte homered for the second day in a row for the Pirates, who have the majors' best home record at 35-17.
Ian Kennedy (10-9) was charged with six runs and eight hits in four-plus innings. He had won his four previous starts.
Chris Young was ejected after being called out on strikes with the bases loaded to end the seventh with Arizona down 7-5 and was restrained by manager Kirk Gibson.
BRAVES 12, PHILLIES 6
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Dan Uggla hit a tie-breaking three-run double in the seventh after Tim Hudson blew a five-run lead and the Atlanta Braves beat Philadelphia.
Ryan Howard's three-run homer off Hudson during a five-run fifth tied it at 6, but the wild card-leading Braves scored four runs after Antonio Bastardo (2-4) got the first two outs in the seventh.
Michael Bourn had three hits, including a two-run homer, and drove in three, and Uggla also had three hits.
Chad Durbin (4-1) tossed a perfect sixth to earn the win.
Hudson allowed six runs and six hits in 4 1-3 innings. It was his second-shortest outing of the season.
The Braves chased Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick in the fourth, taking a 6-1 lead that seemed insurmountable with Hudson on the mound. The three-time All-Star righty is 132-3 when given a lead of three or more.
MARLINS 13, METS 0
NEW YORK (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton hit two two-run homers, Jose Reyes also connected against his former team and the Miami Marlins handed the Mets their ninth straight loss at home.
Reyes extended his hitting streak to a career-high 26 games, the longest in the majors this season. Stanton went deep twice against an ineffective Chris Young (3-6) and finished with four hits in the All-Star slugger's second game back from knee surgery.
After going seven games without a home run, Miami hit four in one night at Citi Field to back Nathan Eovaldi (3-7). Greg Dobbs capped the outburst with a two-run shot in the ninth.
NATIONALS 4, ASTROS 3
HOUSTON (AP) — Gio Gonzalez pitched a nine-inning complete game and hit a home run — both career firsts — to lead the Washington Nationals past Houston.
Nationals manager Davey Johnson was hoping Gonzalez (14-6) could go deep into this game after his bullpen had been taxed with games of 11 and 12 innings to start this series.
He got just what he wanted from Gonzalez, whose other complete game was an eight-inning outing with Oakland in 2010. Things got dicey in the ninth when he allowed three hits and a run and had the tying run on third before striking out Matt Downs to end the game.
Gonzalez put the NL East leaders ahead for good in the second with a two-run homer off Armando Galarraga (0-2).
News from © The Associated Press, 2012