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Another Cub rally defangs Rattlers

Another Cub rally defangs Rattlers

By: By The Associated Press

Pinch-hitter Daryle Ward delivered a two-run double in the eighth inning, and the Chicago Cubs rallied again to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks and procure a sweep of the team that thumped Chicago from the playoffs last year.
Carlos Marmol (1-0) struck out two in a perfect eighth and Kerry Wood pitched the ninth to earn his seventh save in 10 chances and finish off Chicago’s three-game sweep of the NL West leaders.
The Cubs scored six in the seventh to beat Arizona 7-2 on Saturday, and came back from a 4-2 deficit for a 6-4 victory on Sunday.
On Sunday, Reed Johnson tied it at 4 with a two-run homer off Juan Cruz with one out in the seventh after Mike Fontenot walked. Cruz then walked Ryan Theriot before Tony Pena (0-1) got Derrek Lee to hit into a double play, but the Cubs struck again in the eighth.
Pena intentionally walked pinch-hitter Alfonso Soriano to load the bases with one out and set the stage for Ward, who drove the ball to right-center to make it 6-4.
In other NL games, it was: New York 8, Cincinnati 3; Milwaukee 5, St. Louis 3; Florida 5, Washington 4; San Diego 6, Colorado 1; San Francisco 4, Philadelphia 3; and Houston 8, Los Angeles 5. Rain postponed the Braves at Pirates.
Brewers 5, Cardinals 3
At Milwaukee, Ryan Braun hit a pair of solo home runs, Jeff Suppan (2-2) pitched seven innings and the Brewers’ bullpen held on for a win over the Cardinals.
With Eric Gagne out as the closer, the Brewers turned to Salomon Torres and Brian Shouse in the ninth. Torres allowed a leadoff double and a walk before giving way to Shouse with two outs. Shouse, a left-hander, gave up an RBI single to Yadier Molina before finishing for his first save and fifth of his career.
Mets 8, Reds 3
At New York, Carlos Beltran and Ryan Church hit back-to-back homers in the fifth inning to support Oliver Perez and lead the Mets over the Reds.
The Reds batted out of order in the ninth after a double switch, when backup catcher David Ross came to the plate in the No. 8 spot instead of Corey Patterson. Ross flied out to right.
Once Mets manager Willie Randolph informed the umpires of the mistake, the out was charged to Patterson after a prolonged discussion by the umpires, and Ross batted again. This time, he singled.
Marlins 5, Nationals 4
In Washington, Dan Uggla’s second home run was a go-ahead drive in the eighth inning that lifted the Marlins to their seventh straight win.
Uggla drove in two runs and has seven RBI and three homers in two games; he hit a grand slam Saturday.
The Marlins have won all six of their games at Nationals Park., which opened this season, and their seven-game win streak overall is their best run since winning nine straight in August 2006.
Washington’s Aaron Boone had a homer, triple and single with two RBI in the loss.
Logan Kensing (2-0) pitched a scoreless seventh inning for the win, and Kevin Gregg pitched the ninth for his seventh save in eight chances.
Luis Ayala (1-3) gave up three runs on two homers in the eighth inning, spoiling Shawn Hill’s solid outing.
Giants 4, Phillies 3
At San Francisco, Steve Holm hit a go-ahead, two-run drive in the seventh inning for his first major league home run.
Holm homered on the first pitch he saw from J.C. Romero (3-1) after replacing Bengie Molina in the top of the seventh. Romero had allowed only one homer in his previous 61 appearances and came in with an 0.63 ERA over his first 17 outings of 2008.
Jack Taschner (2-0) pitched the seventh and Brian Wilson finished for his 11th save in 13 chances.
Padres 6, Rockies 1
At San Diego, Scott Hairston and Khalil Greene homered to spoil Greg Reynolds’ first start, leading the Padres to their first series win in nearly a month.
San Diego lost eight straight series before taking two of three from the NL champions. The Padres hadn’t won a series since taking two of three at the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 11-13.
Reynolds (0-1) and Chris Young (3-3) put up zeros until Hairston hit Reynolds’ first pitch of the sixth inning just a few feet inside the foul pole.
Astros 8, Dodgers 5
At Los Angeles, Hiroki Kuroda took a no-hitter into the seventh inning for the Dodgers before the Astros broke out for seven hits and six runs in the eighth.
Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee and Hunter Pence had RBI singles against Jonathan Broxton (1-1), and Brad Ausmus added a two-run single against the right-hander as the Astros won for the eighth time in nine games. Houston also completed its first three-game sweep at Dodger Stadium since September 25-27, 1992.
Geoff Geary (1-1) pitched one inning for the win, and Jose Valverde got the final out for his eighth save after Doug Brocail gave up two runs in the ninth.

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