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Brewers continue late season droop

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ Nate McLouth, right, slides into second with a leadoff double as Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Blake DeWitt covers in the ninth inning of their game in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. PHOTO: AP

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Dale Sveum was unable to prevent the reeling Milwaukee Brewers from suffering a fifth straight National League defeat, the interim manager’s first game in charge ending in a 5-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday.

C.C. Sabathia (9-1) lost his first game since joining the Brewers in July, bringing an end to his 12-game winning streak as Milwaukee slipped a half-game behind the New York Mets in the National League wild card race.

Sveum replaced Ned Yost, who was surprisingly fired on Monday, despite the fact that the Brewers (83-68) were tied for the wild card lead and 16 games over .500.

“We’ve been in that [wild card] position for quite a long time and we lost it tonight,” Sveum told reporters. “We have 11 games left to get it back.”

Milwaukee’s late-season tailspin has resulted in 12 losses in their last 15 games but their new manager was more relieved to have his first game out of the way.

The Milwaukee Brewers’ Prince Fielder removes his helmet after his game-ending strikeout, stranding two runners, in the Brewers’ 5-4 loss on Tuesday to the Chicago Cubs in their game at Wrigley Field in Chicago. PHOTO: AP

“I had a lot of anxiety all day long, as well as yesterday,” Sveum said. “It was actually kind of cool getting to manage.”

Sabathia lost for the first time since June 5, a defeat to Texas while still pitching for the Cleveland Indians. He allowed four runs on nine hits over seven innings, striking out five and walking none.

“Tonight I needed to be better than I was,” Sabathia said.

Ryan Dempster (16-6) allowed two runs on seven hits over six innings for the Cubs, striking out nine and walking one.

The Chicago Cubs’ Aramis Ramirez moves back from a high inside pitch from the Milwaukee Brewers’ CC Sabathia during the third inning of their game at Wrigley Field in Chicago on Tuesday. PHOTO: AP

Four relievers finished up with Kerry Wood picking up his 31st save despite allowing one run on three hits in the ninth.

Chicago (91-58) has a nine-game lead in the NL Central on the Brewers and reduced its magic number for clinching the division crown to four.

“That’s huge, to beat a guy who hadn’t lost in our league this year,” Dempster said.

Alfonso Soriano hit his 29th homer of the season for the Cubs while Aramis Ramirez had three hits and drove in a pair of runs.

Prince Fielder hit his 31st and 32nd homers among his three hits for the Brewers, but struck out with two-out and two-on in the ninth against Wood to end the game.

PHILLIES 8, BRAVES 7

Ryan Howard rallied Philadelphia back into the National League East lead, hitting a go-ahead homer in the eighth for his fourth hit in an 8-7 victory over Atlanta on Tuesday.

Brad Lidge escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth for his 37th save in as many chances and Philadelphia moved a half-game in front of fading New York, which lost 1-0 at Washington.

After trailing the Mets by 3 1/2 games going into last Thursday, Philadelphia leads the division for the first time since Aug. 26.

Howard had a run-scoring triple as the Phillies scored twice in the seventh. He leads the majors with 45 homers and 136 RBIs. He was 4-for-5 with three RBIs.

NATIONALS 1, METS 0

At Washington, Odalis Perez shut down slumping New York and scored the only run of the game.

The Mets lost for the fourth time in five games and dropped one-half game behind Philadelphia in the NL East.

A day after John Lannan held the Mets to one hit over seven innings, New York mustered just two in the first seven innings against Perez (7-10).

The lefty retired 13 straight between the hits — which came in the first and sixth innings — and never let a runner advance beyond second. Perez struck out six and did not walk a batter in seven-and one-third innings, his longest outing since Aug. 11, 2005.

With two outs in the fifth, Perez hit a soft liner to left that Fernando Tatis dived for and missed, allowing Perez to reach second with a double.

Tatis remained on the ground in pain, eventually walking off with a separated right shoulder. After a walk, Cristian Guzman drove in Perez with a ground-rule double.

DODGERS 6, PIRATES 2

At Pittsburgh, Derek Lowe allowed five singles over seven innings to remain unbeaten in his career against Pittsburgh as Los Angeles edged closer to the NL West title.

Casey Blake homered and tripled his first two times up after sitting out Monday night with lower back stiffness. Manny Ramirez had three hits for the second successive night, including an RBI double in a four-run second.

The Dodgers won for the 14th time in 16 games and lead Arizona by five games in the NL West with 11 to play. The Diamondbacks played later Tuesday at home against San Francisco.

The Dodgers already had a run on Blake’s 10th homer, then scored three in the second. Russell Martin hit a sacrifice fly, Andre Ethier singled in a run and Ramirez doubled in the fourth run.

Blake tripled and scored on Blake DeWitt’s sacrifice fly an inning later. Blake finished a double short of the cycle.

MARLINS 5, ASTROS 1

At Miami, Jorge Cantu hit a three-run homer and rookie Chris Volstad allowed one run in eight innings to lead Florida past Houston for its sixth straight win.

It was the third straight loss for the Astros, who fell three games behind New York in the NL wild-card race.

Cantu’s three-run homer in the first, his 27th, ended Roy Oswalt’s franchise-record scoreless innings streak at 32 1-3. Oswalt (15-10), who had lasted at least eight innings in five of his previous six starts, allowed five runs and six hits over six innings. He struck out 10 to tie his season high.



In other National League action on Tuesday it was:

• Reds 4, Cardinals 2

• Rockies 10, Padres 3

• Diamondbacks 2, Giants 0

AMERICAN LEAGUE

AP, ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA

Dioner Navarro singled with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth inning, enabling Tampa Bay to beat Boston 2-1 on Tuesday and remain in first place in the American League East.

Navarro delivered his second game-winner in a week against the defending World Series champions, lifting a fly ball that sailed over the head of center fielder Coco Crisp on a 2-2 pitch from Justin Masterson (6-5).

A night after Boston hit six homers to rout Rays ace Scott Kazmir 13-5 and pull within percentage points of the division lead, Tampa Bay wiped out a 1-0 deficit on Carlos Pena’s seventh-inning homer off Josh Beckett.

The Rays moved one game ahead of the Red Sox, who have lost seven of eight at Tropicana Field this season. Dan Wheeler (5-5) struck out the only batter he faced to bail Tampa Bay out of a ninth-inning jam and get the victory.

WHITE SOX 6, YANKEES 2

At New York, Gavin Floyd pitched seven innings against New York and Paul Konerko had two hits and an RBI in his return from a knee injury for AL Central-leading Chicago.

Alexei Ramirez homered and Juan Uribe had three hits and drove in two runs for Chicago.

Ken Griffey Jr. had an RBI single and Brian Anderson added an run-scoring double for the White Sox.

Floyd (16-7) put runners in scoring position in four of his seven innings but gave up just two runs. He gave up nine hits, including Jason Giambi’s 31st homer, and struck out three without walking a batter.

Derek Jeter passed Lou Gehrig for most career hits at the soon-to-close Yankee Stadium with his 1,270th, a sharp single in the first inning.

ORIOLES 2, BLUE JAYS 0

At Toronto, Chris Waters threw a four-hit shutout and Luke Scott homered to lead Baltimore past Toronto.

Toronto lost its third straight and saw a six-game home winning streak ended. The Blue Jays had won seven of their past eight games against the Orioles.

Baltimore, which had lost 17 of 21 coming in, posted its first shutout since beating Texas 9-0 on Aug. 9.

Making his ninth major league start, Waters (3-3) walked two and struck out three.

Scott opened the fourth with a homer to center off reliever John Parrish.

RANGERS 5, TIGERS 4

At Arlington, Texas, Marlon Byrd hit a two-run triple in the ninth and scored the winning run on Chris Davis’ single as Texas beat Detroit.

Fernando Rodney (0-6) took over to start the ninth, but walked Michael Young after the count was 0-2 and allowed Josh Hamilton’s single before Byrd tripled into the right-field corner.

The Tigers intentionally walked consecutive batters to load the bases for Davis, and the rookie singled over the head of drawn-in left fielder Matt Joyce.

Detroit went ahead with three runs in the seventh off Kevin Millwood, after the Texas starter had retired 16 consecutive batters.

The Tigers led 4-2 going to the ninth when Rodney came on for his sixth blown save in 17 chances.



In other American League action on Tuesday it was:

• Royals 6, Mariners 3

• Indians 12, Twins 9, 11 innings

• Athletics 8, Angels 1