Sports

Baseball

Phillies earn key sweep

Associated Press
Published July 11, 2005

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PHILADELPHIA - Ryan Howard hit a tying two-run homer in the eighth, and pinch-hitter Ramon Martinez drove in the tiebreaking run in the 12th to lift the Phillies to a 5-4 win over the Nationals on Sunday.

"I felt good about sending (Martinez) up because he makes contact," Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel said.

The Phillies won their first series since they swept three games from Milwaukee on June 10-12.

David Bell hit a one-out single to center off Sun-Woo Kim in the 12th and went to third on Todd Pratt's single. Jason Michaels flew out and Jimmy Rollins was intentionally walked to load the bases. Martinez chopped a grounder into leftfield to end the game.

That made a winner of Rheal Cormier, who gave up two hits in two innings.

Washington lost for the fifth time in seven games, but still enters the All-Star break 52-36 and in first place in the East, 21/2 games over Atlanta.

The Nationals had their chances against Philadelphia's bullpen in extra innings, but they stranded two runners in the 10th and the 12th.

The Phillies trailed 4-2 in the eighth when reliever GaryMajewski gave up a one-out walk to Chase Utley. Howard followed with his third homer this season.

CUBS 9, MARLINS 2: Derrek Lee hit his 27th homer and drove in four runs, Greg Maddux allowed four hits in eight innings and visiting Chicago got its third series sweep of the season.

"We needed it. It was pretty embarrassing in Atlanta," Maddux said of being outscored 24-5 in a four-game sweep, "and to win three in a row here, it's going to make our vacation a lot better, that's for sure."

Lee hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth and homered for the second straight game after missing three straight starts with a left shoulder irritation. He added a run-scoring double in the ninth for his 72nd RBI.

Maddux bounced back from a pair of losses with the best of his 19 starts this season. He allowed 11 runs over 11 innings in his previous two outings, and had not gone beyond six innings in his previous eight starts.

The Cubs scored three in the third on Jeromy Burnitz's bases-loaded walk and Neifi Perez's two-run single.

The Marlins' Carlos Delgado hit a two-run homer in the ninth, his team-leading 18th.

BREWERS 8, BRAVES 4: Geoff Jenkins homered and drove in three runs, and NL leader Carlos Lee had two more RBIs, helping Chris Capuano earn his career-high fifth consecutive win. Capuano pitched five innings and left with a 5-4 lead after visiting Milwaukee rallied for three runs in the fifth. He gave up seven hits, walked two and struck out six. Rookie Jeff Francoeur and Rafael Furcal homered, but Atlanta committed three errors and dropped consecutive games after it had won six in a row.

CARDINALS 4, GIANTS 3: Jeff Suppan pitched into the seventh, had two hits and drove in a run to help visiting St. Louis win for the sixth time in eight games. Einar Diaz drove in two runs for the Cardinals. Jason Isringhausen gave up two hits in the ninth but struck out Lance Niekro with runners on the corners for his 25th save in 27 chances. The Giants have lost six of nine and enter the All-Star break with their first losing record since 1996.

METS 6, PIRATES 1: Carlos Beltran hit a two-run homer in the first to give Pedro Martinez the only runs he needed as visiting New York avoided a sweep. Mike Cameron added a two-run double to help the Mets get back to .500 at the All-Star break. Martinez struck out four in the first two innings and nine overall in seven to win his eighth in 10 decisions. Pittsburgh's Nos.3-6 hitters - Jason Bay, Daryle Ward, Craig Wilson and Jose Castillo - were a combined 0-for-12 against Martinez, who gave up five hits and walked one, throwing 67 of 95 pitches for strikes.

D'BACKS 2, REDS 0: Tony Clark broke up a scoreless game with a seventh-inning homer for host Arizona. After Clark's two-out homer, Shawn Green doubled and pinch-hitter Luis Terrero lined a run-scoring single to right. Eric Milton had allowed only two hits in 62/3 innings before Clark's homer. Lance Cormier, who bailed Diamondbacks starter Michael Gosling out of a jam in the sixth and worked the seventh, got the win.

PADRES 8, ROCKIES 5: Brian Giles tripled and drove in three runs, and Ramon Hernandez had two RBIs for visiting San Diego. Damian Jackson had three hits, and Xavier Nady and Khalil Greene added home runs for the West-leading Padres. Giles was 1-for-3 with two walks and improved his on-base percentage to .429. He has reached base in 23 of 24 games and leads the majors with 71 walks.

ASTROS 6, DODGERS 5: Brad Ausmus snapped an eighth-inning tie with a run-scoring single and host Houston rallied from four down to sweep the three-game series. Russ Springer pitched a hitless eighth for the win. Brad Lidge worked the ninth for his 20th save in 23 chances. The game ended when the Dodgers' Oscar Robles was thrown out by centerfielder Willy Taveras as Robles tried to stretch a single to a double.

[Last modified July 11, 2005, 01:01:12]

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