National League
Woody Williams won his sixth straight decision, Albert Pujols and Larry Walker homered, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Atlanta Braves 4-1 Friday night in the series opener between division leaders.
Williams (9-6) allowed only three hits and one run in seven innings as St. Louis stretched its NL Central lead over the Chicago Cubs to 13 1/2 games. He has six wins and five no-decisions since his last loss June 8 at Chicago against the Cubs.
Williams allowed just one baserunner to advance past second base -- Chipper Jones' leadoff homer in the seventh inning -- and walked just two batters.
Giants 16, Phillies 6
In Philadelphia, J.T. Snow homered three times, scored a career-best five runs and knocked in four, and Barry Bonds hit career homer No. 689, leading San Francisco to rout of Philadelphia.
It was Snow's first career three-homer game. He hit a two-run shot off Brett Myers (7-9) in the first inning, a solo shot in the fifth and another solo homer in the seventh -- both off Amaury Telemaco -- giving him nine home runs this season. Snow also walked twice.
A.J. Pierzynski homered and drove in five runs, and Marquis Grissom also homered for the Giants, who moved one game behind Chicago in the NL wild-card race.
Bonds went 2-for-2, scored three runs, had two RBIs and was walked three times, twice intentionally. The two intentional walks gave him a major-league high 86 on the season. It helped the Giants break their two-year old major-league record of intentional walks in a season with 104.
Dodgers 8, Cubs 1
In Chicago, Odalis Perez outpitched Greg Maddux before Steve Finley helped the streaking Dodgers pull away at the end to beat the Cubs.
Leading 2-1, the Dodgers scored six times in the ninth inning, taking advantage of Chicago's wilting bullpen and the Cubs' wobbly defense. The NL West leaders won for the 28th time in 37 games.
American League
Ben Broussard homered for the second straight night and the Cleveland Indians pulled within two games of the first-place Minnesota Twins with an 8-2 win Friday night.
The Indians have won five straight and nine of 10, gaining six games on the Twins in nine days. Minnesota has lost seven of nine.
Scott Elarton (2-2) had his finest start of the season and Cleveland roughed up Minnesota early in the first of 13 games remaining between the two clubs. He went seven innings, allowing two runs on seven hits and a walk with four strikeouts.
The Indians scored five times in the first inning on Victor Martinez's two-run double and Broussard's 455-foot, three-run homer. Broussard, who hit a pinch-hit grand slam Thursday, made his second curtain call in as many nights.
White Sox 8, Red Sox 7
In Boston, Aaron Rowand hit two home runs, the second a tiebreaking shot in the seventh inning, to lead the Chicago past Boston.
Rowand had his first career two-homer game, and his four RBIs tied a career high. Jose Contreras (10-5) earned his first career victory against the Red Sox since being acquired from the New York Yankees.
Manny Ramirez and Kevin Millar homered for Boston, which had its three-game winning streak ended. Tim Wakefield (8-7) gave up a one-out homer in the seventh to Rowand to give the White Sox a 5-4 lead.
David Ortiz's sacrifice fly in the seventh scored Johnny Damon to cut the White Sox's lead to 6-5, and Ben Davis singled in two runs in the eighth to give Chicago an 8-5 lead.
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