Rays/MLB

NL roundup

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 20, 2006

PHILLIES 7, NATIONALS 6 (10): PHILADELPHIA - Ryan Howard's run-scoring single in the 10th capped a Phillies rally. The one-out single to right drove in Bobby Abreu to give Philadelphia its second home win in eight games.

Joey Eischen relieved Nationals starter Livan Hernandez in the eighth after a walk to Pat Burrell. Eischen walked Chase Utley and Howard, and pinch-hitter David Dellucci hit a slow roller off Gary Majewski to tie it at 6.

NOTABLE: John Bergendahl, attorney for Nationals general manager Jim Bowden, denied that Bowden and his girlfriend scuffled before they were arrested last weekend in Miami Beach and Bowden was charged with DUI.

REDS 9, MARLINS 8: CINCINNATI - Four homers. Dontrelle Willis on the mound. A late four-run lead. If the Marlins can't win a game like this, they're not likely to win many.

Edwin Encarnacion's run-scoring double in the ninth completed Cincinnati's comeback over the league's worst team.

The Reds overcame an 8-4 deficit despite only one extra-base hit, Encarnacion's one-out double. Florida made three errors, walked six, hit a batter and let in a run with a wild pitch.

QUOTABLE: "Seventeen days in, we can't keep making mistakes." - Joe Girardi, Marlins manager

BRAVES 2, METS 1: NEW YORK - The big question in the East early this season is whether Atlanta still has enough pitching to hold off the Mets.

Winners of 14 straight division titles, the Braves delivered an emphatic answer this week.

Tim Hudson took a one-hit shutout into the ninth inning before finishing with a three-hitter, and Atlanta got another big homer from Andruw Jones.

"You don't look at the lineups and decide who wins the game," Hudson said. "Today was a lot of fun for me personally, especially the way I started the year."

Hudson outpitched Tom Glavine in a matchup of All-Stars in peak form. The right-hander retired the first 15 before Ramon Castro's leadoff single in the sixth and held on with some help from his defense.

It was the second stellar outing in a row for the Braves, who got a three-hitter from 22-year-old Kyle Davies in Tuesday night's 7-1 win.

Wright made three errors.

QUOTABLE: "I almost blew my leg out. It was exciting. Luckily for us we had a catcher trying to score from third." - Hudson on his reaction after leftfielder Matt Diaz doubled up Castro at the plate to end the sixth

BREWERS 7, ASTROS 2: HOUSTON - Andy Pettitte is becoming this year's version of Roger Clemens: When he pitches, the Astros don't get too many runs.

Pettitte lost to the Brewers for the first time since 1996 despite allowing only two runs. Houston has scored 12 in his four starts, seven in his lone victory against Washington on April 9.

Pettitte had won six straight starts against Milwaukee since a 7-5 loss for the Yankees on July 19, 1996. He dropped to 7-3 against the Brewers despite improving his season ERA from 6.35 to 5.25.

A strong start from Chris Capuano help Milwaukee stop a three-game losing streak. He had been 0-2 in three career appearances at Minute Maid Park.

NOTABLE: Houston's Preston Wilson struck out his first four times up, giving him 11 in his past 14 at-bats. Wilson tied a major-league record and set the club mark with five strikeouts Monday.

PADRES 13, ROCKIES 4: DENVER - Vinny Castilla still loves hitting at Coors Field.

The former Devil Ray, also an ex-Rockies star, had four hits for San Diego. He was 7-for-13 in the three-game series and has a .334 average in 481 games at Coors Field. His average at all other ballparks is .256 in 1,299 games.

"He knows this park as well as anybody," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said. "He had a nice series."

Bochy moved Castilla from seventh to the cleanup spot.

"Boy he responded, didn't he?" Bochy said.

Tuesday, the Padres stranded 14 and lost 3-2 in 11. Castilla was 2-for-4 in that one.

"I play good anywhere they put me and help my team win," Castilla said. "No matter where I hit in the lineup, I just try to concentrate and get focused and get a good pitch to hit."

Ben Johnson had a career-high four RBIs, Adrian Gonzalez drove in three and had three hits and Khalil Greene had two hits, two walks and two RBIs.

NOTABLE: Plate umpire Tom Hallion warned both benches after Colorado's Tom Martin hit Brian Giles with a pitch in the eighth inning. Chan Ho Park hit Matt Holliday with a pitch earlier in the game.

CARDINALS 4 , PIRATES 0: PITTSBURGH - Chris Carpenter always arrives at the ballpark thinking he is going to pitch an exceptional game. Maybe that's why he does exactly that so often.

Carpenter held the Pirates to two hits over eight innings in his third straight strong start, and Jim Edmonds and David Eckstein homered for St. Louis.

The right-handed Carpenter is 14-1 in 18 road starts the past two seasons and 6-1 in his career against the Pirates. Repeatedly getting ahead in the count, he didn't allow a runner after hitting Chris Duffy with a pitch to start the first until rookie Ronny Paulino singled with one out in the sixth for his third career hit.

Paulino was fooled earlier in the at-bat, bailing out on a first-pitch breaking ball that broke over the plate. But he worked the count to 2-and-2 before lining a single into short leftfield.

"I know I got a little careless. I threw him a lot of breaking balls in a row," said Carpenter, who was aware he had a no-hit bid going. "That's why it's so hard to do it."

The Pirates are 11-32 against the Cardinals at PNC Park.

NOTABLE: Edmonds, the Cardinals centerfielder, returned after not starting for four games because of right shoulder inflammation and drove in three with a homer and a double.

D'BACKS 10, GIANTS 3: PHOENIX - Jeff DaVanon fell a double short of hitting for the cycle and drove in three for Arizona.

DaVanon, an outfielder who signed as a free agent a week before spring training, homered in the fourth inning and singled in the fifth off Matt Cain, then tripled in the sixth against Kevin Correia.

DaVanon led a 13-hit attack for the Diamondbacks, who have scored at least seven in each of the first three games of the four-game series against their West rivals. San Francisco allowed a total of four runs in three games at Dodger Stadium last weekend.

NOTABLE: Major League Baseball fined Giants leftfielder Barry Bonds $5,000 for wearing wristbands that violated baseball's apparel rules because of their size and logo design. Bonds has appealed.

BREWERS 7, ASTROS 2: HOUSTON - Andy Pettitte is becoming this year's version of Roger Clemens: When he pitches, the Astros don't get too many runs.

Pettitte lost to the Brewers for the first time since 1996 despite allowing only two runs. Houston has scored 12 in his four starts, seven in his lone victory against Washington on April 9.

Pettitte had won six straight starts against Milwaukee since a 7-5 loss for the Yankees on July 19, 1996. He dropped to 7-3 against the Brewers despite improving his season ERA from 6.35 to 5.25.

A strong start from Chris Capuano help Milwaukee stop a three-game losing streak. He had been 0-2 in three career appearances at Minute Maid Park.

NOTABLE: Houston's Preston Wilson struck out his first four times up, giving him 11 in his past 14 at-bats. Wilson tied a major-league record and set the club mark with five strikeouts Monday.

CUBS 5: DODGERS 4: LOS ANGELES - Ronny Cedeno drove in the tying and go-ahead runs with an eighth-inning single, Ryan Dempster set a club record with his 23rd consecutive save and Chicago rallied.

The Cubs lost All-Star first baseman and reigning batting champion Derrek Lee in the seventh with a sprained right wrist.

The Cubs eased some of Lee's hurt with a three-run eighth against former Devil Rays closer Danys Baez, turning a two-run deficit into a 5-4 lead.

NOTABLE: In the press box observing the Brad Penny-Sean Marshall pitching matchup was actor David "Squiggy" Lander, who was Penny Marshall's co-star on Laverne and Shirley in the 1970s. Lander works as an associate scout for the Mariners.

[Last modified April 20, 2006, 02:15:04]