May 20, 2008 6 min read

HOUSTON (AP) – Geovany Soto didn’t get the automatic home run he deserved, but it didn’t make a difference as the Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros 7-2 on Monday night. Soto was credited with an inside-the-park homer in the fourth inning despite replays showing that it should have been an automatic home run. The ball bounced just to the right of the yellow line on the wall in left-center field. Astros center fielder Michael Bourn scooped it up and threw it home, but Soto scored easily before the throw got there.

Aramis Ramirez singled and Kosuke Fukudome walked before the hit. Ramirez added an indisputable two-run homer to the back row of the stands in the left field Crawford Boxes in the ninth inning.

It was the second straight night that major league umpires botched a home run call. New York Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado was robbed of a three-run homer Sunday night. Delgado’s ball was originally ruled a home run but the call was reversed, turning it into a long foul ball. The replay of that play showed it should have been a home run.

Delgado ended up with an RBI single.

Soto’s was the first inside-the-park home run for a catcher since Joe Mauer of the Twins hit one against the Angels on July 21 according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The last National League catcher to achieve the feat was Kelly Stinnett for Arizona on Aug. 29, 2005.

It’s the first one for the Cubs since Derrek Lee hit one on Aug. 26 and the third in Minute Maid Park history.

The win is Chicago’s ninth in the last 11 and puts the Cubs at 11 games over .500 for the first time since finishing the 2004 season at 16 over.

Ty Wigginton dived for, but missed Ryan Theriot’s hard-hit grounder down the third base line in the seventh inning for a double. He scored on a single by Lee to push Chicago’s lead to 4-2.

Ted Lilly (5-4) allowed four hits and two runs with six strikeouts in 5 1-3 innings for his fourth straight win. He didn’t allow a hit until a double by Miguel Tejada with one out in the fourth inning.

Tejada stole third base and scored on a single by Carlos Lee that made it 3-1. Jim Edmonds chased a fly ball by Hunter Pence to the back of Tal’s Hill in center field to end the inning.

Theriot had a run-scoring single in the eighth inning to make it 5-2.

The Cubs were able to shut down Houston’s hottest hitters on Monday, breaking Lance Berkman’s 17-game hitting streak and the career-high 16-game one by Pence. Both were 0-for-4 and Berkman struck out three times.

Chicago’s Mark DeRosa got two hits on Monday to extend his hitting streak to 10 games, leaving him just one shy of his career mark.

The Astros had a chance to cut the lead in the eighth. Bourn singled before stealing second base. Kaz Matsui followed with a single that sailed just over the glove of a leaping Lee.

Michael Wuertz was replaced by Carlos Marmol after Matsui’s hit.

Marmol pitched out of trouble with three consecutive outs. Tejada popped out, Berkman struck out swinging and Carlos Lee was out at first.

Wigginton doubled to start the fifth inning. Brad Ausmus grounded out before Jose Cruz Jr. walked. Wigginton scored on a single by Bourn to cut Chicago’s lead to 3-2.

Nationals 4, Phillies 0

WASHINGTON – Ryan Zimmerman saved a run or two with a quick stab to stop a double down the left-field line in the first inning, charged a two-hopper barehanded to throw out the swift Shane Victorino in the fifth, then made a tough catch look routine when pinch hitter Greg Dobbs hit a foul pop-up in the seventh.

And, by the way, he was on base every time the Washington Nationals scored.

With the help of his third baseman’s flawless defense, Tim Redding threw 6 1-3 scoreless innings and the Nationals opened a seven-game homestand with a victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

Zimmerman hit one of six Nationals doubles – matching the team’s season-high – on a 2-for-3 night that raised his average to .251 as he slowly but steadily emerges from an awful early season slump. Washington scored once in the first, twice in the third and once in the seventh, and shut out the Phillies for the second time this year.

The first time was April 2 – the third game of the season – when Redding threw seven innings in a 1-0 victory. Redding (6-3) didn’t have his best stuff this time, but he stayed afloat by spacing the outs perfectly. The Nos. 2, 3 and 6 hitters (Victorino, Chase Utley and Geoff Jenkins) went a combined 6-for-6 over the first four innings, but Nos. 4 and 5 (Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell) didn’t get a hit all night in eight at-bats.

Redding’s only 1-2-3 inning came in the fifth, and he was removed after allowing a hit and a walk with one out in the seventh. Relievers Saul Rivera, Luis Ayala and Joel Hanrahan finished the job.

Brett Myers (2-5) came up with another fruitless road outing for the Phillies, although it was better than any he’s had recently. He allowed eight hits and three runs with two walks and three strikeouts over six innings, an improvement for a pitcher who entered the game with an 0-3 record and an 8.18 ERA away from Citizens Bank Park.

The Phillies, opening a seven-game road trip, stranded nine men on base to lose their third straight.

Zimmerman was the player to follow all game long. He likely saved two runs when he threw out Burrell on the hard-hit grounder with two outs and men on first and second in the first inning. Zimmerman doubled in the bottom half of the inning, advancing Cristian Guzman to third to set up Dmitri Young’s sacrifice fly that accounted for the game’s first run. Guzman was able to score after center fielder Victorino, apparently thinking there wouldn’t be a play at the plate, threw the ball to second base.

Zimmerman walked in the third to load the bases, leading to Lastings Milledge’s opposite-field, two-run double that made the score 3-0.

After the barehanded play on Victorino in the fifth and the nice catch off Dobbs’ pop-up in the seventh, Zimmerman looped a single to right in the bottom of the seventh, advancing Guzman to third with none out. Young followed by hitting into a double play, but that was enough to score Guzman for another insurance run.

NOTES: Nationals LHP Matt Chico will start Wednesday in place of RHP Shawn Hill, who had a cortisone shot in his right elbow on Saturday. … Young, who has spent much of the season on the DL with a sprained back, played first base for the first time this season. He was subbed for a defensive replacement in the eighth inning. … Nationals OF Austin Kearns missed his second straight game with a sore elbow. … Utley, Howard and Burrell have more home runs (34) than the entire Nationals team (31).

Copyright Associated Press 2008