NATIONAL LEAGUE : Cards walk off with victory after walking in Brewers
Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2008
MILWAUKEE — Ryan Ludwick hit a two-run single with two outs in the ninth inning, and St. Louis’ shaky bullpen held on Saturday for a 5-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers that snapped the Cardinals’ season-long three-game skid.
Prince Fielder hit a tying home run in the eighth for Milwaukee, and Ben Sheets set a franchise record for strikeouts with 1, 086. Still, the slumping Brewers lost for the seventh time in eight games.
Eric Gagne (1-2 ) gave up consecutive singles to start the ninth before getting Aaron Miles to hit a 15-foot grounder that advanced the runners. Albert Pujols was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out for Rick Ankiel, who fouled out. Ludwick grounded a single just past shortstop J. J. Hardy to give St. Louis a 5-3 lead.
Ryan Franklin, who took over the closer’s role Saturday from struggling Jason Isringhausen, got three outs for his third career save and second this year.
Chris Duncan hit a two-run home run for St. Louis.
The Brewers rallied from a 3-0 deficit for the second consecutive game. They scored two runs in the seventh on two walks by reliever Kyle McClellan and another in the eighth on Fielder’s first home run in 42 at-bats. But Milwaukee ran itself out of a potential big inning in the eighth.
Russ Springer (1-0 ) relieved lefthander Ron Villone following Fielder’s home run. Springer walked two and allowed an infield single to load the bases with one out.
On Springer’s first pitch to Jason Kendall, Bill Hall broke from third, appearing to believe the squeeze was on. Hall was tagged out in a rundown, leaving runners on second and third with two outs. Kendall grounded out to end the inning. CUBS 7, DIAMONDBACKS 2 Alfonso Soriano had four hits, including a go-ahead double in a six-run seventh inning, and showed some flair on the bases to help Chicago beat visiting Arizona. GIANTS 8, PHILLIES 2 Tim Lincecum threw strikes all day, and San Francisco’s offense clicked in Omar Vizquel’s season debut. Randy Winn hit his first home run, Aaron Rowand connected against his former club for the second time in more than a week and visiting San Francisco ended a season-worst fivegame skid with a victory over Philadelphia. MARLINS 11, NATIONALS 0 Dan Uggla drove in five runs, Andrew Miller allowed two hits in seven innings and visiting Florida routed Washington for its sixth consecutive victory. METS 12-1, REDS 6-7 Bronson Arroyo pitched eight dominant innings to win a matchup of struggling pitchers and Jeff Keppinger had a career-high five hits, lifting visiting Cincinnati over New York. In the opener, Carlos Beltran hit a bases-loaded triple and drove in five runs, and Carlos Delgado and Brian Schneider hit New York’s first back-to-back home runs of the season to support Johan Santana’s first home victory for the Mets. PIRATES 5, BRAVES 2 Tom Gorzelanny shook off Mark Teixeira’s two-run home run in the first inning 1 to shut out visiting Atlanta during the rest of his 7 / 3 innings as Pittsburgh extended the Braves’ road woes.
American League INDIANS 12, BLUE JAYS 0 In Cleveland, Grady Sizemore homered twice and drove in five runs, Aaron Laffey pitched seven sharp innings and Cleveland routed visiting Toronto to hand the Blue Jays their fourth consecutive loss. RANGERS 6, ATHLETICS 4 In Arlington, Texas, Milton Bradley homered and drove in three runs as Texas beat Oakland for its fifth consecutive victory, despite having its shutout streak end at 33 innings. Texas pitchers had posted three shutouts in a row and the scoreless streak was the second-longest in franchise history. RAYS 2, ANGELS 0 Scott Kazmir (1-1 ) pitched six scoreless innings and Tampa Bay beat visiting Los Angeles to hand Joe Saunders (6-1 ) his first loss of the season. RED SOX 5, TWINS 2 In Minneapolis, Coco Crisp and Jed Lowrie hit back-to-back home runs to lead off the seventh inning and Daisuke Matsuzaka (6-0 ) gave up 2 runs and 6 hits with 7 strikeouts in 7 innings for Boston in a victory over Minnesota. YANKEES 5, TIGERS 2 In Detroit, Derek Jeter hit his first home run, Darrell Rasner pitched six-plus strong innings and New York ended a six-game losing streak to Detroit. Rasner (2-0 ) gave up two runs and four hits. Saturday’s games NATIONAL LEAGUE NY Mets 12-1, Cincinnati 6-7 Chicago Cubs 7, Arizona 2 St. Louis 5, Milwaukee 3 San Francisco 8, Philadelphia 2 Pittsburgh 5, Atlanta 2 Florida 11, Washington 0 Colorado at San Diego, (n ) Houston at LA Dodgers, (n ) AMERICAN LEAGUE NY Yankees 5, Detroit 2 Cleveland 12, Toronto 0 Tampa Bay 2, LA Angels 0 Boston 5, Minnesota 2 Texas 6, Oakland 4 ) Baltimore at Kansas City, (n ) Chicago White Sox at Seattle, (n )
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