Associated Press
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Ryan Zimmerman’s line drive to right-center kept going — and going and going — until it landed in the first row, highlighting another big Fourth of July for the resurgent third baseman and as the NL East-leading Washington Nationals beat the San Francisco Giants 9-4 Wednesday.
Zimmerman missed another home run by inches — he had to settle for an RBI double — on a humid day when the ball carried well at Nationals Park. He is 10 for 20 with four homers and 13 RBIs in six Independence Day games.
Undeterred by an 11:08 a.m. holiday start time that followed a late-finishing game, Washington rallied from an early deficit to move 15 games above .500, matching its season-high.
PHILLIES 9, METS 2
NEW YORK — Cliff Lee finally posted his first win of the season and the Philadelphia Phillies hit three late homers, breaking past the Mets and stopping a six-game losing streak.
Chase Utley and Carlos Ruiz hit consecutive home runs in the seventh inning as the Phillies rallied from a 2-0 deficit. Ty Wigginton’s two-run homer in the ninth capped the surge.
Lee (1-5) had gone a puzzling 13 starts this year without a victory, a big reason the five-time NL East champions have fallen far behind. The lefty ace hadn’t been awful, nor had he been consistently good.
Facing the Mets for the fourth time this season, Lee came out sharp and struck out three of the first four batters. He wound up going eight innings and struck out nine, most of them looking.
PIRATES 6, ASTROS 4
PITTSBURGH — Mike McKenry and Pedro Alvarez drove in two runs apiece, and the Pirates looked pretty comfortable during their first day in first place, beating the Astros.
Kevin Correia (5-6) won his third straight decision as the streaking Pirates moved nine games above .500 (45-36) for the first time since Barry Bonds was swinging for the fences at Three Rivers Stadium 20 years ago. Joel Hanrahan pitched the ninth for his 21st save. Garrett Jones added two hits for Pittsburgh, which has won seven of eight.
M’S 7, BREWERS 6 (10)
MILWAUKEE Hanley Ramirez hit an RBI single off reliever Manny Parra in the 10th inning, and the Marlins went on to beat the Brewers.
Ramirez’s big hit came after the Marlins rallied from a one-run deficit in the ninth, when Gaby Sanchez hit a solo home run off Brewers closer John Axford to tie the game at 6.
CARDS 4, ROCKIES 1
ST. LOUIS — Adam Wainwright pitched six strong innings and Matt Holliday had three hits to lead the Cardinals to a win over the Rockies.
Wainwright (7-8) gave up one run, struck out seven and allowed eight hits to help the Cardinals win for the third time in four games.
CUBS 5, BRAVES 1
ATLANTA — Bryan LaHair, Jeff Baker and Anthony Rizzo hit home runs and the Cubs continued their success against Atlanta.
Paul Maholm (6-6) gave up one run on eight hits in six innings.
The Cubs have won two of the first three games in the four-game series after winning two of three in Chicago on May 7-9.
DODGERS 4, REDS 1
LOS ANGELES — Aaron Harang pitched seven strong innings against his former team and the Dodgers defeated the Reds to win consecutive games for the first time since June 9-10.
Harang (6-5) allowed one run and three hits, struck out five and walked one in his second career start against the team he pitched for from 2003-10. The right-hander last faced the Reds and beat them on June 21, 2002, with Oakland.
PADRES 8, D-BACKS 6
PHOENIX — Yasmani Grandal hit a two-run pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning that propelled the Padres to a victory over the Diamondbacks and their first ever three-game sweep in Phoenix.
Grandal has now homered in four of his six hits and was the seventh player since 1900 to homer in his first three hits. He hit David Hernandez’s pitch just over the right field fence. Justin Upton made a leaping try for the catch but the ball bounced off his glove.
A’s 3, RED SOX 2
OAKLAND, Calif.— Jemile Weeks hit a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh following Coco Crisp’s leadoff triple, and the Oakland Athletics completed a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox with a 3-2 win.
Red Sox slugger David Ortiz hit his 400th career home run and scored on Adrian Gonzalez’s sixth-inning single.
INDIANS 12, ANGELS 3
CLEVELAND — Derek Lowe won for the first time in more than a month and the Cleveland Indians beat the Los Angeles Angels 12-3 Wednesday.
Lowe (8-6) gave up three runs and 11 hits in six innings for his first win in six starts since June 1. The 39-year-old right-hander was 0-3 with a 7.71 ERA in five outings between victories.
YANKEES 4, RAYS 3
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Robinson Cano hit a two-run single during a three-run eighth.
Cano has driven in at least one run in a career-best eight consecutive games, helping the AL East leaders stop a nine-game road losing streak against the Rays.
Alex Rodriguez cut the Yankees’ deficit to 3-2 when he drew a one-out bases-loaded walk, the fourth freebie issued by Kyle Farnsworth (0-1) in the eighth. Jake McGee replaced Farnsworth and allowed Cano’s single that put New York up 4-3.
Farnsworth was making just his second appearance of the season after being out with a strained right elbow.
Carlos Pena hit a two-run shot off Boone Logan (3-0) as the Rays went up 3-1 in the seventh.
ORIOLES 4, MARINERS 2
SEATTLE — Chris Tillman gave up just two hits in 8 1-3 innings in first start of 2012 and Adam Jones hit his 20th home run of the season for Baltimore.
Jones’ homer leading off the second inning came on a 2-0 pitch from Seattle starter Hector Noesi (2-11) and landed well back in the upper level seats. That was all Tillman needed, as the one-time Seattle prospect shut down his former organization after getting called up from the minors.
Tillman (1-0) took a one-hitter into the ninth but Michael Saunders reached on an error and John Jaso’s one-out double on Tillman’s 125th pitch ended his day.
Jim Johnson entered and gave up an RBI groundout to Kyle Seager and RBI single to Justin Smoak, but still finished off his major league-leading 25th save.