Carlos Lee's bloop single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Milwaukee Brewers their seventh straight victory, 6-5 over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday.
"That's baseball," said Brady Clark, who matched a career high with four hits. "You play 162 games, so anything is bound to happen."
Clark led off the ninth with an infield single against reliever LaTroy Hawkins (1-2) and went to second on a sacrifice bunt by pinch-hitter Jeff Cirillo.
"It's good when you can manufacture runs like that," Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said. "We're doing the little things to win ballgames."
After Geoff Jenkins struck out, Lee sent a soft fly to shallow right that second baseman Jerry Hairston couldn't reach.
Derrick Turnbow (3-1) blew a save opportunity in the ninth but earned the win. Chicago lost its fifth straight game to fall a season-low three games under .500.
Aramis Ramirez hit a solo homer with two outs in the ninth off Turnbow to tie the score at 5. Michael Barrett had a two-run shot for the Cubs.
Chad Moeller homered in the eighth to give Milwaukee a 5-4 lead. Pinch-hitter Wes Helms also connected for the Brewers.
Greg Maddux allowed four runs in six innings. The Cubs tied the score at 4 in the eighth on pinch-hitter Ben Grieve's two-out single.
Mets 7, Phillies 5
At New York, David Wright shattered his bat against the ground after striking out with the bases loaded in the third inning, then hit a tiebreaking double in the fifth to lead the New York Mets past Philadelphia.
Mike Piazza had four hits, including a three-run homer to end a 1-for-21 slide.
Starting Mets pitcher Kris Benson, on the disabled list since the start of the season because of a strained chest muscle, allowed two runs and five hits in 4 2-3 innings, wasting a 2-1 lead when he hit Pat Burrell with a pitch with the bases loaded in the fifth.
Aaron Heilman (3-2) relieved for just the second time in his major league career, allowed one hit in 3 1-3 innings, striking out five.
Vicente Padilla (0-4) gave up four runs and eight hits in 4 1-3 innings for the Phillies.
Braves 9, Astros
At Atlanta, John Thomson pitched a three-hitter, Adam LaRoche had a career-high four RBIs and Atlanta cruised past slumping Houston.
LaRoche, who has seven RBIs over the past two games, hit a three-run homer over the center-field wall in the first inning.
Thomson (3-2) gave up two runs in the first, but retired 27 of the last 29 hitters he faced in a dominating performance. He also had an RBI single in the sixth, when the Braves blew open the game with their second four-run inning. It was his first complete game since August 2003.
Padres 8, Cardinals 3
In St. Louis, Brian Giles had four hits and five RBIs in San Diego's victory over St. Louis, which turned the first triple play in the major leagues this season.
Giles ended an 0-for-22 slump by hitting a three-run homer and going 4-for-5, including an eighth-inning single that drove in the go-ahead run.
Chris Hammond (3-0) escaped a bases-loaded situation in the seventh to help the Padres end an 11-game losing streak in St. Louis with their first victory at Busch Stadium since Aug. 28, 2001. St. Louis is 43-9 against San Diego the last six seasons, and has won 19 of the last 22 at home.
Albert Pujols extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a double in the sixth. Ray King (0-1) took the loss.
Pirates 6, Diamondbacks 2
In Phoenix, Jose Castillo, playing for the first time since April 6, had three hits -- including a solo homer and an RBI triple -- and scored twice to lead Pittsburgh over Arizona.
The Pirates, 3-1 on a 10-game road trip, had 11 hits, two nights after setting a season high with 14 in a 7-4 win over Houston.
Jason Bay and Jack Wilson also had solo homers, and Dave Williams (2-3) ended his three-game losing streak by holding the Diamondbacks to two runs in a season-high seven innings. He walked three and struck out three.
Arizona's Shawn Estes (2-3) allowed season highs of 10 hits, including the homers by Bay and Wilson, and five runs in 5 1-3 innings. He was replaced by newcomer Kerry Ligtenberg, who allowed Castillo's shot into the left-field grandstand in the seventh for a 6-2 Pirates lead.
Koichi Isobe hit a pair of homers Thursday as the Rakuten Golden Eagles defeated the Chiba Lotte Marines 7-1 to snap the Pacific League team's 12-game winning streak.
Isobe hit a solo homer in the first inning at Chiba Marine Stadium off Lotte starter Kosuke Kato and then added a two-run blast in the fifth as the Eagles took a 4-1 lead.
Rakuten starter Masahiko Kaneda held the Marines to one run on four hits over the distance for the win as the Eagles snapped a four-game losing streak.
Bobby Valentine's Marines remained atop the Pacific League standings with a 2-1/2-game lead over the Softbank Hawks.
Lions 10, fighters
At Invoice Seibu Dome, Jose Fernandez and Takeya Nakamura both hit two-run homers to power the Seibu Lions to a 10-1 win over the Nippon Ham Fighters.
Fernandez and Nakamura homered in the first inning when the Lions jumped out to an early 5-1 lead. Nakamura, who went 4-for-4 with four RBIs, also had a solo homer in the fourth.
Daisuke Matsuzaka improved to 2-4 after holding the Fighters to one run on eight hits over the distance to pick up the complete-game victory.
Itsuki Shoda took the loss after giving up five runs on four hits over just 2-1/3 innings.
Hawks 6, Buffaloes 0
At Osaka Dome, Tony Batista singled home a run as the Softbank Hawks scored three runs in the second inning on their way to a 6-0 win over the Orix Buffaloes.
Shinji Kurano picked up a complete-game shutout after holding the Buffaloes to five hits.
baystars 3, giants 2
In the Central League, Hitoshi Tamura drove in a pair of runs in the sixth inning with a clutch single up the middle as the Yokohama BayStars defeated the struggling Yomiuri Giants 3-2 to complete a three-game sweep at Tokyo Dome.
Yasuhiro Doi picked up the win after holding the Giants to two runs on five hits over seven innings. Marc Kroon retired the side in the ninth for the save.
Yomiuri starter Tetsuya Utsumi took the loss after giving up three runs on nine hits over seven innings.
Tigers 9, Carp 3
At Koshien Stadium, Tomoaki Kanemoto hit a solo homer in the third inning and Makoto Imaoka added a three-run blast in the eighth to power the Hanshin Tigers to a 9-3 win over the Hiroshima Carp.
Left-hander Kei Igawa picked up the win after holding the Carp to three runs on five hits over seven innings.
Dragons 1, Swallows 0
At Nagoya Dome, Hirokazu Ibata broke a scoreless tie with a seventh-inning RBI single and Eiji Ochiai combined with two relievers on a four-hit shutout as the Central League-leading Chunichi Dragons edged the Yakult Swallows 1-0 for their fourth straight victory.
Ochiai held the Swallows to two hits over seven strong innings with seven strikeouts and no walks.
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