Philadelphia – Cole Hamels came up short in his bid for a perfect game, but Philadelphia completed its season-long climb to .500.
Hamels retired his first 18 batters and used one of baseball’s best changeups to strike out 11 in his 32nd career start, leading the Phillies to a 6-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night.
With nearly 43,000 fans going wild on every pitch, Hamels (6-1) didn’t allow a baserunner until he walked Rickie Weeks to open the seventh. NL home run leader J.J. Hardy followed with Milwaukee’s first hit, his 13th homer of the year, to make it 6-2.
A no-hitter will have to wait for the blossoming Hamels.
“I think every year I try and go out and at least get one,” Hamels said. “I know if I can keep fighting and keep plugging away, I can go out there and hopefully get one every year.”
PADRES 3, REDS 2 at San Diego: Former Evergreen High School athlete Kevin Kouzmanoff, hitting just .137 entering the game, went 3-for-3 and walked with the bases loaded in the ninth inning.
Mike Cameron went 3-for-4 and scored two runs for the Padres, who won two of three in the series.
METS 8, CUBS 1 at New York: Jorge Sosa (3-0) pitched seven- plus innings of one-hit ball, David Wright had two RBIs and New York prevailed in a game that started after a 3-hour, 7-minute rain delay.
A smattering of fans stayed to the end, and they saw Mets all-star Jose Reyes leave the game after an eighth-inning single with slight tightness in his left hamstring. The team said he was day to day.
NATIONALS 6, BRAVES 4 at Washington: Ryan Church hit a go- ahead, three-run double, Washington’s bullpen provided five shutout innings, and the last-place Nationals recorded their fifth victory in six games.
Church’s liner to right-center off Kyle Davies (1-2) capped a four-run fifth in which the Nationals batted around and all of the runs were unearned, thanks to second baseman Kelly Johnson’s fielding error.
ASTROS 2, GIANTS 1 at Houston: Rookie Hunter Pence homered for the second straight game and Houston won its fourth straight game for its first home series win over San Francisco since 1999.
Giants slugger Barry Bonds was 1-for-3 with a single and a walk. He hasn’t hit a homer since May 8 and remains 10 away from tying Hank Aaron’s career record of 755.
MARLINS 4, PIRATES 3 at Pittsburgh: Josh Willingham and Miguel Cabrera doubled in runs during Florida’s eighth-inning rally, and the Marlins won for the second night in a row after losing four straight.
