Football
Associated Press 18y

Sunday's NL Capsules

ST. LOUIS - The St. Louis Cardinals had plenty of offense in their first game without Albert Pujols, getting a successful return from Jim Edmonds in a 9-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.

Pujols, who is batting .308 with 25 homers and 65 RBIss, was put on the 15-day disabled list before the game with a pulled muscle on his right side.

Edmonds, limited to one pinch-hit at-bat in the last seven games by an abdominal injury, was 3-for-3 with an RBIs double in the fifth and a run-scoring single in the sixth, and also walked and scored in the first after entering the game in a 3-for-29 slump. The eight-time Gold Glove center fielder played first base for only the 45th time in his career to minimize the risk of further injury from running, but seemed fine if under control on the basepaths.

Scott Rolen had two hits and three RBIss. Juan Encarnacion had a pair of RBIs doubles to help the Cardinals salvage the finale of a three-game series.

Jason Marquis (8-4) won his fifth straight start despite a season-high five walks.

Greg Maddux (6-5) let a two-run lead get away in the Cardinals' three-run fifth, and is 1-3 with an 8.46 ERA in his last four starts.

PITTSBURGH - Chris Young flirted with a no-hitter for the second consecutive start and the Padres beat the Pirates.

Five days after taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning, Young (5-3) held the Pirates hitless through 5 1-3 innings before pinch-hitter Jose Hernandez lined a single into left field.

The 6-foot-10 right-hander allowed two hits in eight innings. He struck out four and walked one. Trevor Hoffman pitched a perfect ninth for his 12th save in 12 chances.

Brian Giles singled in Dave Roberts in the third inning to give San Diego a 1-0 lead. Mike Cameron had two hits and two stolen bases for the Padres, who have won four of five.

Victor Santos (3-6) allowed seven hits and one run in five innings for the Pirates, who went 7-3 on their homestand.

NEW YORK - Pedro Feliz hit an RBIs single in the 12th inning and San Francisco finally held off the Mets.

With the Mets down to their final strike in the 10th, Lastings Milledge hit his first career homer off closer Armando Benitez to tie it at 6. The 21-year-old rookie also hit a go-ahead double and made a sliding catch in right field in his fifth major league game, quickly winning over New York fans who have been reading all about the talented youngster for a while now.

David Wright hit two homers, including a tying shot in the eighth, and Steve Trachsel pitched seven strong innings for the Mets, who won their previous four series.

Jonathan Sanchez (1-0) pitched a perfect 11th for his first career win and Jeremy Accardo got three straight outs for his first big league save.

Pedro Feliciano (1-2) took the loss.

ATLANTA - Tony Clark homered twice, Damion Easley added a three-run drive and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Braves to complete their first four-game sweep in Atlanta.

Easley's ninth-inning homer was his fourth in the last two games. Clark, who began the day hitting .164, was 4-for-5 to lift his average to .208.

Jeff DaVanon led off the game with a homer and added a two-run single in the second inning as Arizona took an early 4-0 lead against Jorge Sosa (1-7).

Clark hit his fifth homer off Chris Reitsma in Arizona's four-run ninth.

Miguel Batista (6-2) gave up seven hits and three runs in 6 2-3 innings. He walked two and struck out five.

MILWAUKEE - Alfonso Soriano hit a grand slam and a solo homer to lead Washington over the Brewers.

Soriano went 3-for-4 to overcome a pair of bad plays. He made a baserunning error in the first and grounded into a double play with the bases loaded in the fourth.

All of that was forgotten when he hit his third career grand slam in the sixth inning.

After an intentional walk to Mike Vento put two on with two outs, Jorge De La Rosa (2-2) walked Nationals pitcher Tony Armas Jr. to load the bases.

De La Rosa was pulled for reliever Joe Winkelsas, and Soriano hit a 2-2 pitch into the Brewers' bullpen to give the Nationals a 6-0 lead.

That was more than enough for Armas (6-3), who allowed one unearned run and two hits in six innings.

DENVER - Rookie right-hander Scott Olsen pitched six strong innings to help FLorida complete its three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies.

It was the third straight stellar start by the Marlins' young pitching staff. Rookie Ricky Nolasco tossed eight shutout innings Saturday night, 24 hours after Dontrelle Willis ended his six-game skid with a superb seven-inning outing.

The only Colorado hitter to solve Olsen (4-3) was Matt Holliday, who singled twice and knocked a fastball out of the stadium on one bounce in the fourth. But Holliday was thrown out at the plate in the seventh in the key play of the game.

Florida outscored Colorado 21-5 in the series.

Joe Borowski pitched a perfect ninth for his seventh save in eight chances.

Jason Jennings (3-6), coming off a two-hit shutout at San Diego in his last start, gave up four runs and 10 hits in seven innings.

HOUSTON - Ryan Freel hit his second homer of the game in the 11th inning to help Cincinnati complete a three-game sweep of the Astros.

Freel's two-out, two-run homer off Russ Springer completed the first multihomer game of his career. David Ross, who drew a pinch-hit walk, scored on Freel's drive to left.

Todd Coffey (3-0) allowed two hits and one run in the 10th inning for Cincinnati, which swept a series in Houston for the first time since June 1999. It also breaks a streak of seven straight series losses in Houston for the Reds.

Felipe Lopez hit an RBIs double in the 10th inning to put Cincinnati ahead 4-3 before Chris Burke's run-scoring double in the bottom half tied it. Burke also singled in a run in the eighth to tie the game at 3.

Esteban Yan, acquired from the Angels on Tuesday, got his first save after allowing one hit in the 11th. Eric Munson grounded into double play to end the game.

Dan Wheeler (0-4) gave up one hit and two runs in 1 1-3 innings for the loss.

LOS ANGELES - Chase Utley homered and then doubled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning to help Philadelphia beat the Dodgers and salvage a split of the four-game series.

Joe Beimel (2-1) took the loss after Jimmy Rollins and Utley greeted him with doubles to open the Phillies' three-run eighth. Utley bowled over Dodgers rookie catcher Russell Martin to score the fifth run after first baseman Olmedo Saenz charged Ryan Howard's slow bouncer and tried for the out at home plate. Bobby Abreu scored on a fielder's choice grounder by David Bell.

Geoff Geary (3-0) got one out for the victory. Tom Gordon pitched the ninth for his 17th save in 18 chances despite giving up a solo homer to Martin.

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