Sep 18, 2005 4 min read

MIAMI (AP) – Once the Philadelphia Phillies broke up Dontrelle Willis’ shutout in the ninth inning, there was no stopping them. Helped by the Florida Marlins’ inept bullpen and defense, the Phillies’ first 10 batters in the ninth reached base, and they scored 10 times to beat Willis 10-2 Saturday afternoon.

Willis (21-9) was three outs from becoming baseball’s first 22-game winner when he took a three-hit shutout into the ninth. Instead, his streak of wins in six consecutive starts was snapped.

The Phillies won for the sixth time in seven games, while the Marlins fell two games back with their fourth consecutive loss. Going back to last weekend, the Phillies have scored 52 runs in their past five games against Florida.

Todd Jones blew a save for the first time in his past 28 chances. He faced five batters, gave up five runs and committed a throwing error that allowed Philadelphia to score the go-ahead run.

Ugueth Urbina (4-2) earned the win.

Cardinals 5, Cubs 1

CHICAGO – Two days after clinching the NL Central, St. Louis could acknowledge it after beating Chicago for its 95th win.

St. Louis had already clinched the division title because even if second-place Houston had tied, the Cardinals held the tiebreaker on the basis of winning the season series against the Astros. But manager Tony La Russa didn’t want his team to celebrate ensuring it would finish with more victories than the Astros.

After Saturday’s victory, La Russa stood over by the first base coaches box and hugged his players as they walked off the field.

Mark Mulder (16-7) allowed eight hits and a run in seven innings and helped himself with a squeeze bunt and single off Greg Maddux (12-13) to get his first win since Aug. 22.

With two starts left – and a very outside chance of a third on short rest – Maddux (12-13) has all but lost his remarkable streak of 15-win seasons. He’d won at least 15 games for a major league-record 17 straight seasons, a stretch that started in 1988 in the third year of his first stint with the Cubs.

Braves 7, Mets 4

NEW YORK – Adam LaRoche homered and had four hits, and Marcus Giles also connected to lead Tim Hudson and Atlanta.

Hudson (13-8) threw six innings and earned his fifth win in six decisions despite giving up three homers for the first time since May 2002.

Ryan Langerhans added three RBIs and reached safely four times for the NL East-leading Braves, who remained five games ahead of second-place Philadelphia. Giles also reached base safely four times, and Jeff Francoeur got three hits.

Cliff Floyd, Mike Piazza and Mike Jacobs connected off Hudson for the Mets, who dropped to 5-15 in their last 20 games. Steve Trachsel (1-3) allowed five runs – two earned – and nine hits in six innings.

Giants 2, Dodgers 1

SAN FRANCISCO – Omar Vizquel lined a tiebreaking single to right with two outs in the eighth and Randy Winn hit his career-high 16th home run, leading San Francisco over Los Angeles.

The Giants prevented Jeff Weaver (14-10) from earning bid for his career-high 15th win with their second straight one-run victory over their archrivals.

Winn connected for the second straight day, Tyler Walker (4-4) was credited for one-third of an inning for the win, and Armando Benitez finished for his 15th save.

Willy Aybar hit his first career home run for the Dodgers, who fell a game behind the Giants into third place in the NL West.

D’backs 6, Rockies 5

PHOENIX – Tony Clark hit home runs from both sides of the plate, including a go-ahead shot in the seventh inning, and Chad Tracy went 4-for-4 with a homer to rally Arizona over Colorado.

Tracy hit a one-out homer to right to tie it off reliever Randy Williams (3-1) in the seventh. Clark followed with a towering shot into the left-field stands from the right side to give the Diamondbacks a 6-5 lead.

Clark, who had his third two-homer game of the season on Friday, also had a three-run drive in the fifth from the left side that pulled the Diamondbacks within 5-4.

Oscar Villareal (1-0) pitched a perfect seventh to earn his first win since Sept. 25, 2003.

Garrett Atkins hit his 13th homer and drove in three for the Rockies, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.