Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
LOS ANGELES - If the Pirates needed a wakeup call before their noon start on getaway day, they got a rude one from the Dodgers.
Milton Bradley hit two home runs, including one of three straight by the Dodgers in the first inning, and Los Angeles beat the Pirates 8-3 Thursday behind another solid outing from Jeff Weaver to finish its first season sweep of any NL team since moving to the West Coast in 1958.
"We normally swing the bat good in day games, because you can see the ball better and it carries a little more," said Adrian Beltre, who hit one of the Dodgers' season-high five homers, his 30th of the season. "It was good to come out in the first inning and give Weave some run support."
The Dodgers hit three consecutive homers for the second time this season. Beltre, Juan Encarnacion and David Ross did it against Brett Tomko in the fifth inning of a 7-6 victory at San Francisco on April 18.
"We just took care of business," Bradley said. "We came out swinging the bats and hit the ball the way we're capable of doing. This is one of the more legit parks, but in the daytime, the ball does take off a little better."
A team hit three straight homers against the Pirates for the first time since Aug. 4, 2002, when San Francisco's J.T. Snow and Reggie Sanders took Kris Benson deep and David Bell did likewise against Josias Manzanillo in the sixth inning of the Giants' 10-5 win at PNC Park.
"It was a beautiful thing," said Weaver, who has allowed no more than three earned runs in 17 of his past 19 starts but is 8-8 during that stretch. "Twelve o'clock games are tough to get going in, but we came out of the chute with some runs."
CUBS 5, ROCKIES 1: Mark Prior pitched six scoreless innings for his first win in more than a month, and Chicago won its fourth straight by completing a three-game sweep.
Derrek Lee and Corey Patterson homered for the Cubs, who moved a season-high 12 games over .500 (60-48) and swept Colorado at Coors Field for the first time. It was the Cubs' first sweep of the Rockies since they won three July 18-20, 1994, at Mile High Stadium.
Prior got his first win since beating the White Sox 7-4 on June 25, a span of six starts. Glendon Rusch pitched 21/3 solid innings for his first save. He allowed a two-out triple in the ninth by pinch-hitter Kit Pellow, who scored when Sammy Sosa bobbled the ball in right for an error.
BRAVES 6, ASTROS 5: Pinch-hitter Marcus Giles' sacrifice fly drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth for visiting Atlanta. With the score tied at 5, J.D. Drew hit a leadoff single and Chipper Jones doubled off reliever Dan Miceli. After an intentional walk to Andruw Jones loaded the bases, Giles hit his lazy fly to right that scored Drew.
PHILLIES 5, PADRES 3 (10): David Bell hit a two-run single with two outs in the 10th as visiting Philadelphia won its third straight. San Diego has lost four in a row and five of six. Placido Polanco tied it at 3 with a homer in the sixth off Padres starter Sterling Hitchcock, the former Armwood standout pitching for the first time this season.
CARDINALS 2, EXPOS 1: Scott Rolen hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth and Chris Carpenter pitched eight four-hit innings for host St. Louis. Jim Edmonds also homered for the Cardinals, who have won 13 of 17 to move a season-high 31 games over .500.
MARLINS 11, D'BACKS 5: Carl Pavano pitched into the eighth on three days' rest and hit a run-scoring single to help Florida snap a season-worst four-game losing streak. Paul Lo Duca and Miguel Cabrera homered for the Marlins, who also stopped a five-game road skid.
REDS 12, GIANTS 3: Aaron Harang pitched seven innings of four-hit ball, and Sean Casey went 4-for-5 with four RBIs for visiting Cincinnati. Adam Dunn's three-run homer capped the Reds' 10-run eighth.