Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
HOUSTON - Carlos Zambrano pitched into the ninth inning and hit a two-run home run, leading the Chicago Cubs to a 5-3 victory over the Astros on Friday night.
Moises Alou snapped a 3-3 tie with a two-run homer in the eighth and finished with three RBIs to move the third-place Cubs within 41/2 games of the Central-leading Astros.
With the Cubs trailing 3-1 in the seventh, Paul Bako singled with two outs before Zambrano hit his home run off Wade Miller.
Zambrano pitched 81/3 innings, the longest outing of his career, and allowed five hits and three unearned runs with seven strikeouts and one intentional walk.
Joe Borowski got two outs for his 18th save in 21 opportunities.
METS 3, REDS 1: Al Leiter pitched seven scoreless innings to win for the first time in more than a month for host New York.
Jose Reyes had three hits and scored twice for the Mets. Leiter allowed six hits and two walks, ending his three-game losing streak.
Reyes scored on a throwing error in the fourth and on Jason Phillips' single in the eighth after his line drive to left was misplayed into a triple by Brandon Larson.
MARLINS 11, PHILLIES 5: Consecutive bases-loaded walks by Philadelphia relievers Mike Williams and Carlos Silva forced home the tying and go-ahead runs for host Florida, which scored eight in the eighth.
Florida drew five walks in the inning against Williams and Silva to take the lead then broke the game open on consecutive run-scoring singles by Miguel Cabrera, Alex Gonzalez, Todd Hollandsworth and Juan Pierre.
Derrek Lee homered, doubled, singled and walked twice for Florida, which beat Philadelphia for the sixth straight time and moved within four games of the Phillies in the wild-card race.
Marlins rookie left-hander Dontrelle Willis rebounded from the worst start of his career and allowed three hits and one run in six innings.
EXPOS 9, BRAVES 8 (11): Ron Calloway hit a two-out double in the ninth off John Smoltz to tie and Orlando Cabrera scored on a wild pitch in the 11th for the host Expos.
Cabrera hit a one-out double off Jung Keun Bong (6-2) in the 11th, moved to second on a walk to Calloway and stole third. After a Brad Wilkerson walk loaded the bases, Bong bounced his 1-and-1 pitch to Jose Macias in the dirt and Cabrera slid home safely for the win as catcher Javy Lopez dropped the ball on a desperate tag attempt.
Montreal scored five runs in the eighth to cut it to 8-7.
It was Smoltz's first blown save since June 19 and just his third in 40 opportunities this season.
Chipper Jones, Vinny Castilla and Lopez homered for Atlanta, which had a six-run lead in the eighth.
PIRATES 10, CARDINALS 5: Reggie Sanders and Brian Giles homered and visiting Pittsburgh scored six runs in the eighth.
Jose Hernandez had three hits, including a leadoff double in the eighth, as the Pirates capitalized on a variety of physical and mental mistakes by the Cardinals.
Brian Meadows (1-1) pitched three innings in relief of starter Kip Wells.
J.D. Drew's fifth-inning homer, his 11th, broke up what had been a scoreless duel between Wells and Cardinals rookie Dan Haren. The Pirates were hitless until Hernandez doubled with one out in the fifth.
Wells gave up four earned runs in six innings, striking out six and walking five. Haren gave up three runs in 51/3 innings with six strikeouts and four walks.
ROCKIES 7, BREWERS 3: Chin-hui Tsao became the first Taiwanese pitcher in the major leagues and won in his debut for host Colorado. Tsao allowed three runs on eight hits in 61/3 innings, and Larry Walker and Preston Wilson homered for Colorado, which won for the third time in nine games since the All-Star break. The Brewers opened a 10-game road trip with their seventh straight loss at Coors Field.