Jul 25, 2005 7 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – Eric Bruntlett hit a three-run homer with two outs in the top of the 14th inning Sunday to give the Houston Astros a 4-1 victory over the Washington Nationals. Bruntlett fouled off three straight pitches before pulling Hector Carrasco’s 3-2 pitch over the left-field fence and into the Nationals bullpen to give the Astros their seventh win in eight games.

Russ Springer (3-3) pitched two innings for the victory, and Brad Lidge pitched the bottom of the 14th for his 23rd save. The Astros won three of four in the series.

Mets 6, Dodgers 0

NEW YORK – Kris Benson pitched four-hit ball for eight innings, and Mike Piazza hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs for New York.

Carlos Beltran tripled, Cliff Floyd had an RBI double and Piazza had three hits as the Mets won for the sixth time in seven games and moved four over .500 (51-47) to match a season high. Los Angeles dropped to 7-13 in July.

Benson (7-3) didn’t allow a baserunner until Cesar Izturis bunted for a single with one out in the fourth. He scattered four singles – two didn’t make it out of the infield – and struck out five.

Phillies 5, Padres 1

PHILADELPHIA – Brett Myers (8-5) allowed one run in six innings and delivered an RBI double as Philadelphia completed a three-game sweep of slumping San Diego.

Ryan Howard had three hits, including an RBI double, for Philadelphia, which went 9-4 on its homestand and has won 26 of its last 39 home games.

Ramon Hernandez had three hits for San Diego, which went 0-6 on a road trip to New York and Philadelphia and has lost a season-high seven in a row overall. Third baseman Joe Randa, acquired Saturday from Cincinnati, made his Padres debut with a pinch-hit single in the seventh inning.

Reds 3, Brewers 2

CINCINNATI – Adam Dunn led off the ninth inning with his 28th home run as Cincinnati beat Milwaukee.

Dunn hit a 2-2 pitch from Julio Santana (2-4) into the right-field seats to give the Reds their ninth victory in 13 games. David Weathers (6-1) pitched a scoreless inning for the win.

Milwaukee starter Doug Davis set a career high with 11 strikeouts, but was left with his fifth no-decision in five starts. He allowed six hits and two runs with one intentional walk in eight innings.

Diamondbacks 3, Braves 2

PHOENIX – Javier Vazquez (9-9) struck out a season-high 11 in eight innings and Arizona withstood Andruw Jones’ 31st and 32nd homers.

Part-time player Tony Clark hit his 15th home run for the Diamondbacks, who won a home series for the first time in a month to climb within 21/2 games of sinking San Diego in the anemic NL West.

The loss kept Atlanta tied with Washington atop the NL East. The Braves finished a 10-game road trip 5-5 and open a three-game series at home against the Nationals on Tuesday night.

Marlins 4, Giants 1

SAN FRANCISCO – A.J. Burnett homered and pitched into the eighth inning, and Miguel Cabrera connected for the third straight game to lead Florida.

Juan Encarnacion added a two-run shot as Florida took two of three to win its first series in San Francisco since 1997, when the Marlins earned the NL wild card and won the World Series.

Athletics 8, Rangers 3

ARLINGTON, Texas – Scott Hatteberg drove in three runs, and the streaking Oakland Athletics finished a four-game sweep of the Texas Rangers.

Bobby Crosby and Mark Ellis each had three hits to help the A’s extend their winning streak to six. They’ve won 26 of 32 overall to tie Minnesota for the wild card lead and build a 41/2-game edge over the Rangers for second place in the AL West.

Texas lost its fifth straight and fell to 2-9 since the All-Star break. The Rangers, who’ve dropped seven of eight to Oakland since the break, dipped under .500 (48-49) for the first time since they were 13-14 on May 2.

Rich Harden (8-4) wasn’t nearly as dominant as his last start against Texas, but he was good enough to win. He allowed three runs and five hits in 5 1-3 innings, striking out five and walking four. The right-hander threw 111 pitches in temperatures that reached the mid-90s.

Yankees 4, Angels 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Mike Mussina shut down the Angels, Hideki Matsui hit a two-run homer and New York avoided a four-game sweep.

Mussina (10-5) held the Angels to one run and seven hits in 6 1-3 innings as the Yankees completed a 6-5 road trip to Boston, Texas and Los Angeles.

They return to New York on Tuesday night for their first homestand since the All-Star break – three games against Minnesota and three more against the Angels. The Yankees are 11/2 games behind the first-place Red Sox in the AL East and a half-game back in the wild-card race.

White Sox 6, Red Sox 4

CHICAGO – Tadahito Iguchi homered and Jose Contreras threw 116 pitches over 5 2-3 innings in sweltering heat to get the win as Chicago beat Boston in a match up of division leaders.

With the game-time temperature at 100 degrees, the White Sox gained a split of the four-game series between the defending World Series champions and the team with the best record in the majors this season.

Tigers 5, Twins 2

DETROIT – Jeremy Bonderman pitched into the ninth inning for his 13th win, and Curtis Granderson homered and tripled to lift Detroit over Minnesota.

Carlos Guillen also connected and Magglio Ordonez added three hits for the Tigers (49-49), who have reached .500 by winning 12 of 18. Minnesota has lost 11 of 18.

Bonderman (13-6) is second in the AL in wins, trailing only 15-game winner Jon Garland of Chicago. The 22-year-old right-hander allowed two runs and seven hits while striking out six.

Devil Rays 6, Orioles 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Casey Fossum took a three-hitter into the seventh inning and Carl Crawford hit a two-run homer in the eighth as Tampa Bay finished a three-game sweep of the struggling Orioles.

Jorge Cantu had an RBI double and Toby Hall snapped a fourth-inning tie with a run-scoring single off Erik Bedard (5-2) to help Fossum overcome solo homers by Sammy Sosa and Sal Fasano.

Sosa’s shot was his 585th, moving him within one of Frank Robinson for fifth on the career list.

Indians 6, Mariners 3

CLEVELAND – Kevin Millwood won for the first time in five July starts and Victor Martinez hit a three-run homer, helping Cleveland beat Seattle.

Martinez had three hits. His 11th homer, off reliever J.J. Putz in the seventh inning, gave Millwood more runs with one swing than the Indians have averaged in the right-hander’s 18 starts.

Royals 6, Blue Jays 5

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Angel Berroa homered during a four-run outburst with two outs in the fourth inning, leading Kansas City past Toronto.

Blue Jays starter Ted Lilly retired his first 11 batters in the 96-degree heat and looked almost unhittable while carrying a 4-0 lead. Then the next four batters combined to hit for the cycle, starting with Emil Brown’s two-out double.

D.J. Carrasco (5-4) recovered from a shaky start to earn the win, going six innings. Mike MacDougal got Aaron Hill to ground into a double play to finish his 15th save in 17 chances, including his 14th straight.

Chad Gaudin (1-3) took the loss.