Baseball roundup
Willis fires 3-hitter as Marlins sink Phillies MIAMI (AP) – Dontrelle Willis threw a three-hitter and struck out a career-best 12 in his first shutout of the season, carrying the Florida Marlins to a 3-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday and earning them a split of a four-game series between NL wild-card hopefuls.
Willis (10-11) retired his last 13 batters and never allowed a runner to advance past second in his eighth career shutout. He threw 80 of his 122 pitches for strikes and walked only one.
Ryan Howard – whose 56 home runs lead the majors – had two singles for the Phillies, taking advantage of Florida’s infield shifts both times.
Brewers 4, Astros 0
MILWAUKEE – Dave Bush pitched a five-hitter and struck out a season-high 10 in his third career shutout, leading the Brewers past the Astros.
Dodgers 9, Mets 1
NEW YORK – Eric Stults pitched with unusual poise for a 26-year-old making his first major league start, giving the Los Angeles Dodgers a big September boost.
Stults limited the New York Mets to two hits in six innings, and Kenny Lofton gave him an early lead with a three-run triple off a shaky Steve Trachsel in the Dodgers’ 9-1 victory Sunday.
Nomar Garciaparra added a three-run homer and four RBIs for the Dodgers.
Braves 2, Cubs 1
ATLANTA – Lance Cormier pitched seven solid innings and struck out a career-high 10, and Brian McCann doubled in the go-ahead run in the sixth to help the Braves hand the Cubs their ninth straight road loss.
Rockies 13, Nationals 9
DENVER – Todd Helton hit a tiebreaking grand slam in the seventh inning, Matt Holliday homered and drove in three runs, and the Rockies outslugged the Nationals to sweep their season series.
Holliday finished 3-for-5 with his 28th home run of the year.
D’backs 9, Cardinals 7
PHOENIX – Tony Clark and Eric Byrnes hit solo home runs in the eighth inning to lift Arizona over St. Louis.
Twins 12, Tigers 1
MINNEAPOLIS – Johan Santana struck out 11 in Minnesota’s victory over Detroit, pitching two-hit ball into the seventh inning and pulling the Twins within two games of the first-place Tigers in the AL Central.
The Twins haven’t lost a Santana home start since Aug. 6, 2005, going 22-0 in that span. Santana (18-5) is 15-0 with a 1.92 ERA during that stretch. He leads the majors in wins, strikeouts and ERA.
Nick Punto had four hits and three RBIs and Torii Hunter had three hits and scored three runs for the Twins, who trailed the Tigers by 101/2 games just more than a month ago.
Indians 5, White Sox 2
CHICAGO – Victor Martinez hit a tiebreaking homer in the ninth inning, C.C. Sabathia pitched a four-hitter and Cleveland beat Chicago to split a four-game series.
The White Sox remained 31/2 games behind Detroit in the AL Central. Sabathia (11-9) walked two and struck out nine in his major league-leading sixth complete game of the year.
Athletics 9, Devil Rays 7
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Frank Thomas homered for the fifth consecutive game and drove in three runs to help AL West-leading Oakland beat Tampa Bay.
Angels 4, Blue Jays 3
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Jered Weaver struck out Troy Glaus with the bases loaded to help preserve his 11th victory, and Los Angeles took advantage of a first-inning injury to Toronto ace Roy Halladay. Halladay made only 16 pitches, departing after Garret Anderson lined a single off his pitching elbow.
Yankees 9, Orioles 4
BALTIMORE – Derek Jeter extended his career-high hitting streak to 20 games, going 2-for-4 with a homer and four RBIs to lead New York over Baltimore.
Red Sox 9, Royals 3
BOSTON – David Ortiz hit his career-best 48th homer and Wily Mo Pena drove in two runs to help Boston snap a three-game skid with a win over Kansas City.
Rangers 4, Mariners 2
SEATTLE – Michael Young got three hits and drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth inning to help Texas beat Seattle and end a three-game losing streak.
C.J. Wilson (2-2) earned the win and Akinori Otsuka worked the ninth for his 32nd save in 35 chances. The loss ended the Mariners’ four-game winning streak.
Rangers starter Adam Eaton tossed six-plus innings, allowing two runs and eight hits without a walk.
Seattle’s Ben Broussard hit his career-best 20th home run. Jon Huber took the loss.