Brewers 6 at Mets 2
Prince Fielder drove in the go-ahead run on a botched potential double-play grounder in the eighth and Yovani Gallardo shut down the Mets for seven innings, leading the Milwaukee Brewers to a 6-2 victory Sunday for their first series sweep in New York.
Casey McGehee homered off R.A. Dickey in the fourth and Ryan Braun had three hits, an RBI and scored twice after stealing bases for the Brewers.
Milwaukee won three straight in Queens to send the Mets six games under .500 for the first time since May 4 with a thorough display of superior baseball this weekend. Shaun Marcum stifled New York on Friday in a 6-1 win. Fielder and the Brewers rallied Saturday after blowing a late six-run lead for an 11-9 victory, and Gallardo (14-8) gave up six hits in the finale to match a career high for wins.
The NL Central-leading Brewers have won eight of nine on the road to improve to 29-36 away from home.
Diamondbacks 0 at Braves 1
Tim Hudson combined with two relievers on a five-hit shutout, Alex Gonzalez homered and Atlanta completed a three-game sweep of slumping Arizona.
The Diamondbacks have lost five straight to match their longest skid of the season.
Hudson (13-7) allowed only three hits with three walks and seven strikeouts in seven scoreless innings. Jonny Venters pitched the eighth before Craig Kimbrel escaped trouble in the ninth to earn his 39th save.
Right-hander Josh Collmenter (7-8) gave up only four hits and one run in seven innings but saw his streak of road starts without a win extended to nine.
Reds 5 at Pirates 4
Cincinnati scored twice in the ninth inning to hand All-Star closer Joel Hanrahan his second loss in three days and take two of three from Pittsburgh.
Ramon Hernandez hit an RBI-single to tie the game with one out in the top of the ninth and Dave Sappelt scored on Brandon Phillips’ fielder’s choice.
Toronto native Joey Votto added a three-run homer for the Reds. Jose Arredondo (3-3) pitched two perfect innings in relief and Francisco Cordero survived an eventful ninth to earn his 26th save.
Garrett Jones and Andrew McCutchen each hit two-run homers for Pittsburgh, which had been 52-0 when leading after eight innings.
Hanrahan (0-3) gave up two runs on three hits and two walks in 2-3 of an inning to blow a save opportunity for just the third time this year.
Giants 6 at Astros 4, 11 innings
Pablo Sandoval hit a tie-breaking two-run homer with two out in the 11th inning to propel San Francisco.
The score had been tied 4-4 since the fourth inning and the Giants missed several chances to take the lead until Sandoval’s 15th homer off Mark Melancon (6-4).
Jeremy Affeldt (2-2) pitched two innings for the victory. He has allowed one earned in 17 1-3 innings since the all-star break.
The Giants stranded 12 base runners, including seven over the final five innings. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Astros, equalling their longest of the season.
Brandon Belt hit a three-run homer in the second inning and had a career high four hits for the Giants.
Dodgers 3 at Rockies 5
Kevin Millwood pitched seven strong innings for his first big league win in nearly a year and Seth Smith hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh, leading Colorado to snap a string of 17 straight Sunday losses.
The Rockies hadn’t won on Sunday since beating the Chicago Cubs 9-5 on April 17.
Chad Billingsley (10-10) went 7 2-3 innings for the Dodgers, allowing five runs on three hits. He struck out seven and walked five. Rafael Betancourt got three outs for his second save in five chances.
Phillies 4 at Nationals 5, 10 innings
Ian Desmond hit a tying homer with two outs in the ninth inning, then Jonny Gomes was nicked by a pitch from Brad Lidge with the bases loaded in the 10th and Washington broke Philadelphia’s streak of eight straight winning road series.
It was the second improbable victory in three games for the Nationals. They beat the Phillies, who have the best record in the majors, with a six-run rally in the ninth Friday night.
Ryan Zimmerman, who hit a game-ending grand slam Friday night, started the 10th with a leadoff double against Lidge (0-1). Michael Morse was walked intentionally and Jayson Werth, after striking out three times, singled to load the bases.
Danny Espinosa fanned for the first out. Gomes was 0 for 4 before getting plunked on his left elbow by a 1-0 pitch.
Sean Burnett (4-5), the sixth Washington pitcher, pitched a scoreless 10th.
Marlins 3 at Padres 4
Nick Hundley tripled leading off the bottom of the ninth and scored on Will Venable’s bases-loaded single to give San Diego a four-game sweep of Florida.
The Padres swept the seven-game season series. Overall, San Diego has won eight straight against the Marlins.
On the day the Padres honoured all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman by retiring his No. 51, Heath Bell (3-4) blew the save by allowing Mike Cameron’s solo homer with two outs in the ninth.
Hundley started the winning rally in the bottom of the inning with a triple off the bottom of the centre field wall against Edward Mujica (8-5). It was the fourth triple in the last six games for Hundley, the Padres’ catcher.
Cory Luebke struck out eight in six innings for the Padres.
Cardinals 6 at Cubs 2
Albert Pujols hit his 31st home run and Yadier Molina homered twice as St. Louis beat the Cubs.
Pujols had four hits and took the National League lead in homers. Matt Holliday added three. John Jay homered, doubled and scored twice for St. Louis.
Jake Westbrook (10-7) held the Cubs to seven hits and two runs in seven innings, beating Chicago for the first time in three starts this season as the Cardinals salvaged the last game of a three-game series.
Jason Motte and Fernando Salas finished off the Cubs with two perfect innings.
Rodrigo Lopez (4-4) took the loss, allowing four homers and five runs in 5 1-3 innings.
Aramis Ramirez had two hits and drove in both of Chicago’s runs.