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Phillies survive Braves in 9th nailbiter

The Atlanta Braves’ Mark Teixeira reacts after striking out with the bases loaded as Philadelphia catcher Chris Coste, left, looks on in the bottom of the ninth inning of their baseball game in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday. PHOTO: AP

NATIONAL LEAGUE

AP, ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Ryan Howard hit a three-run homer and Pat Burrell added a solo shot as Philadelphia survived a ninth-inning scare to beat Atlanta 7-3 on Wednesday night.

The Phillies improved to 5-0 in Atlanta this season and 7-1 overall in the season series.

The Braves (40-45) fell a season-worst five games under .500 with their second straight loss in the series, despite homers from Chipper Jones and Ruben Gotay.

Jones, playing his second game after missing eight straight starts with a strained right quadriceps, hit his 17th homer off J.C.

Romero in the eighth, cutting the Phillies’ lead to 5-3.

The Phillies answered with two runs in the ninth on Jimmy Rollins’ RBI triple and Chase Utley’s run-scoring single.

The Braves loaded the bases against Brad Lidge in the ninth on one hit and two fielding errors by Howard at first base but Lidge struck out Mark Teixeira to end the game.

MARLINS 4, NATIONALS 2

At Miami, Alfredo Amezaga hit a go-ahead, two-run home run in seventh inning to lead Florida past Washington when play resumed after a 1 1/2-hour rain delay.

Florida trailed 2-1 when the game was halted with one and two outs in the seventh for 1 hour, 35 minutes. Charlie Manning (0-2) relieved starter Odalis Perez after the delay, and Amezaga his second home run of the season and 11th in 1,106 career at-bats.

Wes Helms added a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Ricky Nolasco (9-4) improved to 4-0 in his last five starts, allowing two runs and three hits in seven innings. Kevin Gregg threw a perfect ninth for his 15th save.

PIRATES 9, REDS 5

At Cincinnati, Xavier Nady homered twice and drove in four runs to lead Pittsburgh, which lost another pitcher to injury.

Closer Matt Capps will be gone for about eight weeks after a medical test detected bursitis and tightness in his pitching shoulder. Capps is the fourth Pittsburgh pitcher to wind up on the disabled list in the last two weeks.

The rest of the bullpen came through, helping the Pirates win consecutive road games for only the second time this season.

Nady had a run-scoring single, a solo homer and a two-run shot off right-hander Daryl Thompson (0-2), who got hit hard in his third major league start.

DODGERS 4, ASTROS 1

At Houston, Hiroki Kuroda threw seven shutout innings after coming off the disabled list, and Jeff Kent had two RBI-doubles as Los Angeles downed Houston.

Kuroda (4-6) allowed five hits in his first start since going on the DL on June 18 with tendinitis in his right shoulder.

Andre Ethier hit a solo homer and Blake DeWitt scored on Luis Maza’s squeeze bunt for the Dodgers, who have won five of their last six road games.

Carlos Lee homered in the ninth off Cory Wade for Houston’s only run. Wade relieved Kuroda in the eighth and retired the other six batters he faced.

The Dodgers scored all their runs off Runelvys Hernandez (0-2), who was making his second start since replacing Shawn Chacon in the Astros’ rotation.

ROCKIES 8, PADRES 1

At Denver, Garrett Atkins, Troy Tulowitzki and Yorvit Torrealba homered to lead Colorado past San Diego.

Atkins drove in four runs and Ubaldo Jimenez pitched into the seventh inning for his second win in his last three starts.

Colorado scored seven runs in the first three innings against Randy Wolf (5-8).

Atkins singled in a run in the first and followed Matt Holliday’s RBI single in the third with a three-run drive, his 11th of the year. Tulowitzki added a two-run homer in the third, his third of the year.

Chase Headley homered for the Padres, who have lost 15 of 18 games.

CUBS 6, GIANTS 5

At San Francisco, Mike Fontenot hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning for Chicago.

Jim Edmonds homered for the Cubs, who have scored 16 runs in the first three games of this four-game series after being held to nine runs while getting swept by the Chicago White Sox over the weekend.

Carlos Marmol (2-3) picked up the win despite giving up a tying three-run homer to Ray Durham in the seventh. Kerry Wood worked the ninth for his 21st save.

Fontenot homered off Tyler Walker (3-4), his fifth of the season and second in four games.

Edmonds hit a two-run homer off starter Kevin Correia in the sixth for the Cubs, who won for the sixth times in 15 games.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

AP, ST. PETERSBURG, Florida

Evan Longoria went 3-for-4 and drove in three runs as Tampa Bay beat Boston 7-6 on Wednesday to complete their second three-game sweep of the World Series champions this season.

The Rays improved the best record in baseball to 52-32, rallying from a three-run deficit in the seventh inning and extending their lead in the AL East to a franchise-best 3 1/2 games over the second-place Red Sox.

Boston matched a season high with its fifth consecutive loss.

Tampa Bay is 6-0 at home against Boston, which has swept two three-game series from the Rays at Fenway Park.

Longoria had an RBI single off Daisuke Matsuzaka in the first inning, and his two-run double off Craig Hansen (1-3) was the big blow in a six-run seventh. The rookie has 15 RBIs in his last 10 games.

YANKEES 18, RANGERS 7

At New York, Jason Giambi hit a grand slam and drove in a season-high six runs and Alex Rodriguez added a three-run homer as New York avoided a series sweep to Texas.

The Yankees scored just seven runs and batted .172 in losing three of their last four games.

Rodriguez scored four times, the last coming on his line-drive homer to right during the Yankees’ season-high nine-run seventh inning. It was Rodriguez’s 535th homer, moving him past Jimmie Foxx for 14th on the career list and within one of Mickey Mantle.

Milton Bradley and Chris Davis hit two-run homers for the Rangers, who are 0-7 this season after taking the first two games of a three-game series. Josh Hamilton drove in two runs.

WHITE SOX 6, INDIANS 5, 10 INNINGS

At Chicago, A.J. Pierzynski led off the bottom of 10th with his second homer of the game and Chicago won its seventh straight.

Masa Kobayashi (4-4) pitched a perfect ninth then Pierzynski drove the first pitch of the 10th for his seventh homer.

Grady Sizemore’s second solo homer of the game tied it at 5 off Scott Linebrink in the ninth.

Adam Russell (2-0) worked the 10th for his second win in as many nights and the second of his career.

TWINS 7, TIGERS 0

At Minneapolis, Nick Blackburn combined with two relievers on a five-hitter, and Joe Mauer’s two-out, two-run single sparked a five-run third inning for Minnesota against Detroit.

Minnesota took two of three from the Tigers and has won 13 of its last 15 games. Detroit, which had won 18 of 22 coming into the series, was shut out for the 10th time this season, the most in the major leagues.

The Twins have outscored the Tigers 39-17 in six games at the Metrodome this year, winning five.

Blackburn (7-4) allowed three hits in seven innings, struck out four and walked one. Jesse Crain allowed two hits in the eighth, and Boof Bonser pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.

ANGELS 7, ATHLETICS 4

At Anaheim, California, Joe Saunders pitched into the seventh inning to match Brandon Webb for the major league lead with his 12th win, and Juan Rivera and Eric Aybar homered for the Angels.

Saunders (12-4) allowed four runs — two earned — and six hits in 6 1-3 innings to help Los Angeles open up a 5 1/2-game lead over its American League West rivals.



In other games, it was:

• Orioles 5, Royals 2

• Mariners 4, Blue Jays 2