Sunday National League Capsules.
MLB Baseball NewsSunday National League Capsules.
ATLANTA 7, NY METS 6
ATLANTA Jeff Francoeur and the Atlanta Braves gave fans of the New York Mets yet another miserable memory at Turner Field.
Francoeur had an RBI triple, and Martin Prado drove in three runs as the Braves rallied for 7-6 win over the Mets in the season finale at Turner Field on Sunday.
Ruben Gotay and Omar Infante each drove in a run for Atlanta, which used a four-run eighth inning to beat New York for the eighth time in nine meetings here this season.
Meanwhile, Carlos Delgado homered and collected his 2,000th hit with a single in the first and David Wright homered for New York (86-69), which fell one game behind the Philadelphia Phillies (87-68) in the National League East Division. Philadelphia played the Florida Marlins later Sunday.
The Mets also had their lead in the wild card cut to 1 1/2 games after Milwaukee (85-71) beat Cincinnati, 8-1, on Sunday.
They will certainly be glad to leave Turner Field – their personal house of horrors. The Mets have dropped 66 of 98 here since the ballpark opened in 1997.
In a season lost to injuries, the Braves gave their fans something to cheer about and left Mets fans shaking their heads after yet another implosion by their porous bullpen.
Infante lead the eighth-inning rally with a double down the left-field line off reliever Scott Schoeneweis (2-5) before first baseman Casey Kotchman knotted the game at 4-4 with a seeing-eye single to right.
Kotchman made contact on the 0-1 offering from Schoeneweis, partially offering at the pitch. But the check swing hit landed perfectly between Ryan Church and Carlos Beltran in right field, plating Infante with the tying run.
Francoeur followed with a triple to the left-center field to give the Braves a 5-4 lead. Two more Mets relievers loaded the bases for Prado, who followed with a two-run double down the right field line.
Jorge Julio (3-0) hurled a scoreless eighth for the win. Mike Gonzalez worked around a two-run homer to Delgado in the ninth to record his 13th save.
The all-too familiar implosion from New Yorks bullpen evoked memories of the Mets forgettable end to their 2007 campaign, missing out on the playoffs by losing 12 of their last 17 games to blow a seven-game lead to the Phillies in the NL East.
The bullpen, which has blown 28 saves, spoiled another solid outing from Mike Pelfrey. Pelfrey allowed three runs and six hits in six innings and left with a 4-2 lead.
CHI CUBS 5, ST. LOUIS 1
CHICAGO Kosuke Fukudome started in right field and had two hits out of the leadoff spot as the Chicago Cubs topped the the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-1.
Rookie Casey McGehee had his first two major league hits and drove in two runs for the Cubs (94-60), who can clinch home-field advantage throughout the National League playoffs with losses by the New York Mets (86-68) and Philadelphia Phillies (87-68) later Sunday.
Fukudome, who was benched recently and came into the game with a .173 batting average and one home run in his last 38 games, was inserted into the leadoff spot by manager Lou Piniella in order to get some at-bats before the playoffs and responded with a leadoff double and a single in the third.
Ryan Dempster (17-6) pitched five solid innings, allowing one run and six hits while striking out one. The righthander was lifted after just 67 pitches as Chicago is lining up its starting pitching for the playoffs.
HOUSTON 6, PITTSBURGH 2
PITTSBURGH Roy Oswalt pitched six strong innings as the Houston Astros posted a 6-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates, who closed out another embarrassing home campaign.
Oswalt (16-10) allowed only one run and seven hits and no walks with four strikeouts.
Houstons Michael Bourn and Miguel Tejada each had three hits, with Bourn adding two steals and a run and Tejada two runs and an RBI.
Geoff Blum had two hits, a run and an RBI for the Astros.
Pittsburgh went 39-42 at home this season.
MILWAUKEE 8, CINCINNATI 1
CINCINNATI The fading Milwaukee Brewers arent quite dead yet. Prince Fielder homered and drove in three runs as the Brewers snapped a three-game losing streak with an 8-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
Fielder got things going with a deep blast to dead center field in the second inning, then went to right field for a two-run double two innings later to stake Milwaukee to a 3-0 lead. Corey Hart drove in a pair of runs, both on sacrifice flies, as the Brewers won for just the fifth time in 20 games.
Seth McClung – making his first start since July 21 – did not go long enough to get the win, giving up one run, two hits and four walks in 3 1/3 innings. Todd Coffey (1-0) got out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, striking out both hitters he faced, to earn the victory.
Bronson Arroyo (15-11) had his six-start unbeaten streak snapped, as he gave up five runs and six hits over six innings. He struck out eight and walked three.
SAN DIEGO 6, WASHINGTON 2
WASHINGTON Kevin Kouzmanoff had a pair of doubles and three RBI and Adrian Gonzalez scored three times to lead the San Diego Padres to a 6-2 victory over the Washington Nationals.
Kouzmanoff drove in two runs with a first inning double and added an RBI single in a three-run eighth that extended the lead to 6-1. Gonzalez blasted his 35th home run in the sixth
Cha Seung Baek (6-10) allowed one run and five hits over seven innings while striking out five without issuing a walk.
Ryan Zimmerman had a solo home run and an RBI single for the Nationals, who have five in a row.
ARIZONA 13, COLORADO 4
DENVER Chris Young had a home run among his three hits and drove in four runs in support of Dan Harens solid outing as the Arizona Diamondbacks cruised to a 13-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
Young smacked an RBI single in the first inning to trigger a five-run rally, and lifted his 20th homer of the season against Rockies starter Greg Reynolds (2-8) in the next frame.
In the fifth, Young laced a triple with the bases loaded to increase the Diamondbacks lead to 10-3, and Conor Jackson, who went 4-for-6, followed with a run-scoring single.
Haren (16-8) yielded three runs and over six stellar innings, improving to 3-0 against Colorado this season.
PHILADELPHIA 5, FLORIDA 2
MIAMI Chase Utley and Pedro Feliz each hit two-run homers while Jamie Moyer pitched six solid innings as the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Florida Marlins, 5-2.
With the win, Philadelphia (88-68) remained atop the National League East Division, moving 1 1/2 games ahead of the New York Mets (86-69), who lost to the Atlanta Braves, 7-6, on Sunday. There are only seven games left on the schedule.
Moyer (15-7) improved to 11-1 in his career against the Marlins. The 45-year old lefthander allowed one run and six hits while striking out four.
Brad Lidge pitched a scoreless ninth to record his 40th save in 40 opportunities. It is the second time the 31-year-old has reached the 40-save plateau in his career as he recorded 42 saves in 2005 with Houston.
SAN FRANCISCO 1, LA DODGERS 0 (11 INNINGS)
LOS ANGELES Rich Aurilia singled home pitcher Brad Hennessey, who stole second base, in the 11th inning to lead the San Francisco Giants to a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Aaron Rowand hit a one-out single off Takashi Saito (4-4). After pinch hitter Pablo Sandoval hit into a fielders choice, he was pinch ran for by Hennessey.
Hennessey caught the Dodgers napping, and stole second. He advanced to third on an infield single and scored when Aurilia singled to left. Brian Wilson threw a perfect ninth to record his 41st save in 46 chances.
Andre Ethier had two hits for the Dodgers (81-75), who had their lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks (78-77) cut to 2 1/2 games in the National League West Division.
Monday, September 22nd, 2008 at 10:00 pm and is filed under MLB Baseball News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
