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Finley's aging arm lifts Cards

ST. LOUIS -- Chuck Finley may be 39, but he still has plenty of life left in his arm.

Finley struck out 10 in eight innings and Scott Rolen hit a two-run triple as the Cardinals beat the Pirates 4-1 Wednesday night for their 10th win in 12 games. Finley has 2,575 career strikeouts and needs six to tie Bob Feller for 20th on the career list.

"Oh geez, that just tells me I'm getting old and I need to get out of here," Finley said. "I just keep chugging along, I stay off the operating table and I take my turn every fifth day."

The Pirates weren't buying any of that "old guy" stuff.

"He hasn't been one of the best left-handers in the game for this long because he doesn't know how to pitch," Brian Giles said.

The win was the 1,887th for manager Tony La Russa, moving him into the top 10 ahead of Hall of Famer Bill McKechnie. La Russa said he was more excited that the Central leaders matched their season best of 16 games above .500 (70-54).

DIAMONDBACKS 11, REDS 3: Curt Schilling won his major league-best 21st game, striking out nine in seven innings for host Arizona. The Diamondbacks have won 10 of 11, five against Cincinnati. Steve Finley doubled, tripled and singled in his first three at-bats and drove in three runs. He had two chances to complete the cycle with a home run but struck out in the sixth and flied out to right in the eighth. Schilling allowed two runs on five hits and walked one, giving him 259 strikeouts and 20 walks this season.

DODGERS 4, MARLINS 3 (10): Shawn Green hit a game-winning run-scoring double in the 10th after Eric Karros tied it in the ninth for host Los Angeles. Mike Kinkade homered for the Dodgers, whose lead in the wild-card race remained at 21/2 games over San Francisco. Braden Looper walked Adrian Beltre with two outs in the 10th, and Green drove a 2-2 pitch to the fence in right-center, easily scoring Beltre. Paul Shuey pitched a hitless 10th for the victory. Marlins rookie Michael Tejera, looking for his ninth win and first road win in the majors, handed a 3-2 lead to Vladimir Nunez after eight and watched as the right-hander blew his eighth save in 28 opportunities.

GIANTS 3, METS 1: Kirk Rueter pitched five-hit ball for eight shutout innings against visiting New York, which lost its 10th straight. Rueter faced the minimum 15 batters through five innings and retired 11 straight at one point. He also was helped by four double plays and won for the fourth time in six starts. Though Rueter bunted in the eighth, manager Dusty Baker abandoned the chance for the Giants' first string of three straight complete-game shutouts since 1960 by calling in Robb Nen.

ASTROS 4, CUBS 0: Carlos Hernandez scattered four hits over six innings, leading host Houston. Hernandez, starting for the second time since returning from the disabled list (sore shoulder) Sunday, beat Chicago's Mark Prior in a matchup of rookie starters. Hernandez tied a career high with eight strikeouts. It was his first win since beating the Cubs on May 31.

BRAVES 6, PADRES 3: Gary Sheffield drove in five runs on two homers and a double for visiting Atlanta. Sheffield, who played for San Diego in 1992 and part of '93, went 3-for-3 and walked twice to reach base in all five appearances. He has 24 homers, second on the team behind Andruw Jones' 26. Right-hander Kevin Millwood held the Padres to three runs and six hits in eight innings and improved to 11-1 in his past 18 starts.

EXPOS 13, ROCKIES 5: Brad Wilkerson hit two of visiting Montreal's season-high six home runs. Vladimir Guerrero, Jose Vidro, Wil Cordero and pinch-hitter Matt Cepicky also homered for the Expos, who climbed back to .500.

PHILLIES 13, BREWERS 3: With rain pouring through Miller Park's leaky roof again, Bobby Abreu homered and drove in four to lead Philadelphia. Jimmy Rollins had three RBIs for the Phillies.

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