Los Angeles – Brad Penny stranded six runners in scoring position through seven scoreless innings, Russell Martin tied a career high with four RBIs and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-1 on Wednesday night.
Penny (6-1) rebounded nicely from his worst outing of the season, scattering six hits after giving up eight runs over five innings in a 9-1 loss against the Angels last Friday in Anaheim, Calif. The right-hander struck out four, walked two and lowered his ERA to 2.26.
In the final meeting of the season between the two divisions leaders, a bench-clearing incident took place in the bottom of the fifth. But no punches were thrown and order was quickly restored.
PADRES 2, CUBS 1 at San Diego: Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a two-run homer and David Wells (2-2) allowed one run in seven innings.
Kouzmanoff, a former Evergreen High School athlete, hit a 2-0 pitch from Sean Marshall (0-1) an estimated 438 feet into the second deck in left-center field to put San Diego ahead 2-1 in the seventh inning. The rookie third baseman has lifted his average over .200 with 10 hits in his past 19 at-bats during a six-game hitting streak with two homers and eight RBIs.
GIANTS 9, ASTROS 1 at San Francisco: Bengie Molina hit a two-run triple and singled in two runs to help Barry Zito (4-5) bounce back from an awful outing against his old team last week at Oakland and send San Francisco its a three-game series sweep.
Barry Bonds got a break to rest. The 42-year-old slugger is set to resume his chase of Hank Aaron’s home run record Friday night against the Rockies following the team’s off day today, still needing 10 to match Aaron’s career mark of 755.
PHILLIES 8, MARLINS 7 at Miami: Abraham Nuñez singled home the tie-breaking run in the 10th inning, and Philadelphia rebounded after blowing a four-run lead in the ninth to beat Florida.
Florida tied the game with a bizarre rally that included two ejections, two defensive gaffes by the Phillies and an injury to their closer, Brett Myers, who left with a strained right shoulder.
METS 3, BRAVES 0 at Atlanta: Oliver Perez pitched seven scoreless innings, David Wright hit his fourth homer in the past four games and first-place New York increased its lead over Atlanta in the NL East to 2 1/2 games.
Perez (6-3) gave up only four hits and two walks in seven innings. He struck out five batters while winning his third straight start.
NATIONALS 12, REDS 7 at Cincinnati: Ryan Church returned to Washington’s lineup after a two-game absence with two homers and a career-high six RBIs.
CARDINALS 5, PIRATES 3 at St. Louis: Kip Wells (2-8) ended a seven-game slide with seven strong innings and was backed by three home runs.
