close

Braves complete sweep over Washington with 5-4 victory

5 min read

ATLANTA (AP) – Rookie Jeff Francoeur homered twice, Marcus Giles hit a two-run double in a three-run fourth inning, and the Atlanta Braves beat the Washington Nationals 5-4 Thursday to complete a three-game sweep. Francoeur, who had three hits and drove in the go-ahead run with an eighth-inning double Wednesday night, had his first multihomer game as he continued to establish himself as a regular in the Braves’ lineup.

With the sweep, the Braves stretched their lead over Washington to three games in the NL East after the teams entered the series tied for first place.

Jorge Sosa (6-1) gave up seven hits and two runs with two walks and four strikeouts in five-plus innings. Chris Reitsma got the final three outs for his 12th save in 16 chances.

Jose Vidro hit a two-run homer, his sixth, for the Nationals, who are only 6-16 since leading the NL East by 51/2 games on July 2. Ryan Drese (3-4) allowed four runs – three earned – in six innings.

Cardinals 11, Padres 3

SAN DIEGO – Chris Carpenter became the NL’s first 15-game winner, Jim Edmonds hit a three-run homer and tied his career high with five RBIs, and St. Louis routed San Diego.

Albert Pujols had three hits and two RBIs and Abraham Nunez added three singles for the Cardinals, who took two of three in the matchup of division leaders. St. Louis got 10 runs and 15 of its 17 hits off two Padres rookies in the first seven innings.

Carpenter (15-4) held San Diego to three runs and five hits in seven innings to join Jon Garland of the Chicago White Sox as the only 15-game winners in the majors. He improved to 8-0 in eight road starts and won his seventh straight decision.

Tim Stauffer (3-6) allowed nine hits and seven runs in 3 1-3 innings as San Diego lost for the 32nd time in 50 games since June 1. The Padres dropped back to .500 (51-51) and had their lead in the NL West cut to two games by Arizona.

Diamondbacks 6, Cubs 0

CHICAGO – Rookie Brad Halsey pitched six innings of four-hit ball, and Luis Gonzalez and Chad Tracy homered to lead Arizona.

Halsey (7-7), acquired from the New York Yankees in the Randy Johnson trade during the offseason, won his third straight decision by striking out two and allowing just one intentional walk.

Tim Worrell pitched a scoreless seventh, Jose Valverde struck out the side in the eighth and Greg Aquino worked the ninth to complete the five-hitter. The Diamondbacks have won two straight games by shutout.

Arizona’s Shawn Green had four hits, including a triple. Tracy and Gonzalez each added doubles and Luis Terrero had a two-run single in the ninth.

Jerome Williams (3-4) allowed one run and seven hits in 5 1-3 innings, striking out five and walking four. He made his sixth start with the Cubs since being acquired from San Francisco on May 28.

Reds 6, Dodgers 1

LOS ANGELES – Jason LaRue drove in five runs with a pair of homers and Brandon Claussen pitched seven sharp innings, helping Cincinnati split the four-game series.

Claussen (5-8) won for the first time since June 21, allowing a run and four hits while striking out five. The left-hander, 0-4 with a 7.20 ERA over his previous five starts, retired 14 consecutive batters after giving up a leadoff homer in the first inning to Cesar Izturis and single by Milton Bradley one out later.

It was the first time in Claussen’s 17 starts that he did not walk a batter. He had yielded 16 runs and eight homers over his previous two outings and didn’t make it out of the fourth inning in either one.

Rookie D.J. Houlton (4-4) gave up four runs and four hits in six innings.

Giants 3, Brewers 0

MILWAUKEE – Brad Hennessey pitched seven scoreless innings and took care of the offense with a three-run home run, leading the San Francisco Giants over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Milwaukee starter Victor Santos (3-11) took a no-hitter into the fifth inning before Hennessey hit a 2-0 pitch for his first home run in 30 career at-bats.

Hennessey (4-3), one of the team’s first round draft picks in 2001, rebounded from the worst outing of his short career, when he gave up eight runs in 4 1-3 innings in a 16-4 loss to Florida on Saturday.

The right-hander limited the Brewers to three hits and one walk while striking out seven in his 16th major-league start.

Milwaukee was shut out for the second consecutive day and seventh time this year. The Brewers have lost 10 consecutive home games to the Giants.

San Francisco finished with only four hits against three Brewers pitchers.

Scott Munter pitched a scoreless eighth, and Tyler Walker got the last three outs for his 17th save in 22 chances.

The Giants managed only a walk in the first four innings. With one out in the fifth, Deivi Cruz struck out on a wild pitch but reached second when the ball got past catcher Damian Miller and rolled to the wall. One out later, Mike Matheny was intentionally walked so Santos could face Hennessey.

The pitcher took two balls before hitting the third pitch over the left field wall as Santos crouched on the mound in disgust.

Santos pitched six innings, giving up three runs on three hits and two walks while striking out two.

The Brewers came within a couple of feet of tying the score at 3 in the bottom of the fifth. With two on and two out, Brady Clark’s long fly landed just a couple of feet left of the foul pole in the stands in left field.

Clark then grounded out to end the inning, and the Brewers never got a runner past first after that.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $4.79/week.

Subscribe Today