Los Angeles – Mark Hendrickson used his 6-foot-9 frame to its fullest advantage, allowing three hits and no runs over six-plus innings to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 2-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday.
“He located his pitches really well and mixed them up,” Arizona’s Chris Young said. “And with him being so tall, his ball gets up on you a little bit – even if he’s throwing 86 (mph).”
Hendrickson (2-0) struck out seven, walked one and allowed only one runner as far as second base. Chin-hui Tsao and Jonathan Broxton each pitched a scoreless inning and Takashi Saito allowed Eric Byrnes’ RBI single in the ninth before earning his eighth save in eight chances.
Young’s costly error in center field in the sixth led to an RBI single by Juan Pierre that snapped a scoreless duel between Hendrickson and Doug Davis (2-3). Andre Ethier also singled home a run.
BREWERS 4, CARDINALS 0 at Milwaukee: Carlos Villanueva (2-0) pitched four scoreless innings of relief for injured starter Chris Capuano as Milwaukee completed a sweep of St. Louis and improved to a major-league best 18-9. Capuano took a sharp comebacker off his right calf in the second and pitched one more inning before he was taken out.
St. Louis, reeling from Sunday’s death of relief pitcher Josh Hancock, spent much of its three- game series in Milwaukee looking lost in the field and crossed up at the plate.
“You’ve got to fight through it,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “This club’s proven it’ll fight. That’s why I’m confident we’re going to improve.”
But first, St. Louis must take another tough step in an emotional week. The Cardinals are off today but will travel to Tupelo, Miss., to attend a memorial service for Hancock.
CUBS 8-7, PIRATES 6-1 at Pittsburgh: Jason Marquis (4-1) limited the Pirates to four hits over eight innings to win his fourth consecutive start and Alfonso Soriano homered for the second time in two days after not connecting all season.
A half hour before that game started, the Cubs finished an 8-6 win in a game suspended by a persistent rain when they led 6-5 in the middle of the seventh Tuesday night.
BRAVES 4, PHILLIES 3 at Atlanta: Chipper Jones kept up his torrid hitting with a two-run double, and the Atlanta bullpen shut down Philadelphia over the final four innings.
METS 6, MARLINS 3 at New York: Oliver Perez (3-2) struck out a season-high 10 and singled twice to start New York rallies, helping the Mets avoid a three-game sweep. The Mets left 30 runners on base in the series.
PADRES 7, NATIONALS 3 at San Diego: Adrian Gonzalez hit his eight homer for San Diego, which lost starter Clay Hensley to a strained groin.
ASTROS 3, REDS 1 at Houston: Roy Oswalt (4-2) pitched eight stellar innings and rookie Hunter Pence got his first career RBI for Houston.
