SAN FRANCISCO - Jason Schmidt made sure the Giants would start this road trip in a much better frame of mind than they did their most recent one.
Schmidt struck out 11 and took a shutout into the ninth inning to lead the Giants to their ninth straight win, 3-1 over the Rockies on Sunday.
San Francisco has turned its season around in just two weeks and played its way back into the West race.
Schmidt (6-2) is 6-0 with a 1.73 ERA over his past seven starts, striking out 60 in 52 innings.
"I think it all stems back to that one-hitter he threw," reliever Jason Christiansen said. "He took the bull by the horns and said, "I'm the leader of this team. See what I can do, and you guys can follow me.' "
Christiansen retired Todd Helton on a groundout before Matt Herges relieved and got Vinny Castilla on a fly out. Jeromy Burnitz then hit a high, catchable fly to center that defensive replacement Marquis Grissom lost in the sun.
The ball landed just shy of the warning track for a run-scoring triple.
Grissom didn't start after spending the previous night in the hospital with his wife, who gave birth to their daughter, Gabrielle.
"That's the last time I send in an outfielder for defense who had a baby the night before," manager Felipe Alou said.
EXPOS 6, REDS 2: Tomo Ohka became the first major-league pitcher in more than five years to bat higher than ninth in the starting lineup and went hitless in two at-bats, but he worked 62/3 strong innings to lead host Montreal. With his team having lost eight of nine, manager Frank Robinson batted Ohka eighth in the lineup "to try something different." He moved Jamey Carroll, who was hitting .256 coming in, to the ninth spot. Ohka (3-5) was hitting .118. Ohka finished 0-for-2 with a walk and left three runners in scoring position. Brad Wilkerson and Endy Chavez homered for Montreal, which remains a league-worst 16-33. Joe Valentine (0-1), making his first career start, allowed two hits and three runs in one-plus innings.
MARLINS 8, METS 6: Miguel Cabrera homered and drove in four runs, and Mike Lowell hit a tiebreaking double off Mike Stanton (0-2) in the seventh inning that lifted host Florida. The Marlins finished a three-game sweep and won for the ninth time in 11 games but lost right-hander Josh Beckett, who left after 22/3 innings with a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand and will go on the 15-day disabled list today. Jason Phillips homered twice for the Mets, the first multihomer game of his career.
PHILLIES 4, BRAVES 1: Eric Milton pitched seven strong innings in his longest outing of the season, and Jim Thome hit his 12th home run for host Philadelphia. Milton (6-1) gave up one run on three hits, striking out a season-high eight batters and walking three. His only difficulty came in the fourth when he gave up a run-scoring triple to Andruw Jones that tied it at 1.
PADRES 5, BREWERS 2: Brian Giles had a two-run triple and Phil Nevin homered to help Ismael Valdez win for the first time in more than a month, leading visiting San Diego. Valdez (4-2) allowed nine hits and two runs in seven innings as he won for the first time since April 27 against Montreal. Valdez helped his cause with a run-scoring ground-rule double with two outs in the sixth inning.
DODGERS 3, D'BACKS 0: Kazuhisa Ishii pitched six scoreless innings, and Adrian Beltre hit a two-run double as host Los Angeles shut out Arizona for the second straight game. Ishii (6-3) gave up three hits and walked four - the fourth time in five starts he allowed more walks than hits. Eric Gagne extended his major-league-record saves streak to 75 with his 12th this season.
CUBS 12, PIRATES 1: Derrek Lee broke a 1-for-20 slide with three hits and four RBIs, and visiting Chicago stopped a five-game losing streak. Carlos Zambrano (5-2) struck out eight in six innings to beat Pittsburgh for the third time this season. Aramis Ramirez and Michael Barrett also had three hits apiece for Chicago.
ASTROS 7, CARDINALS 1: Mike Lamb, Jeff Bagwell and Lance Berkman hit two-run homers, leading host Houston. Albert Pujols hit his major-league-leading 15th homer for St. Louis. Tim Redding (3-3) allowed four hits over 71/3 shutout innings for Houston.
