Tim Lincecum threw eight stellar innings and Pat Burrell hit a two-run homer as the San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 2-1 to retain their slim lead in the National League West.
The Giants entered the day with a half-game lead over San Diego, who beat Cincinnati 4-3 later on Friday.
The struggling Rockies dropped their fifth straight game and fell four-and-a-half games behind the Giants with nine games remaining.
PHOTO: EPA
Lincecum, the reigning two-time NL Cy Young pitching award winner, retired the first 15 batters. He allowed two hits, the first a bloop double to Seth Smith in the sixth that hit just inside the chalk in shallow left. Eric Young Jr followed with a two-out RBI single for the Rockies’ only run.
Lincecum (15-10) finished with nine strikeouts, moving his total to a league-leading 229.
Dodgers 3, Diamondbacks 1
PHOTO: EPA
In Phoenix, Arizona, Clayton Kershaw allowed four hits and a run in eight-plus innings as Los Angeles hung on for the victory over Arizona.
The 22-year-old left-hander struck out nine in his career-high 32nd appearance. Kershaw (13-10) saw his ERA fall to 2.91. His career-best ERA was 2.79 last year.
Trent Oeltjen’s two-out triple in the third inning gave Los Angeles a 1-0 lead. Andre Ethier tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jay Gibbons in the fourth. Reed Johnson made it 3-0 with a home run in the eighth.
The Diamondbacks scored in the ninth on a leadoff single by Chris Young and Tony Abreu’s double.
Padres 4, Reds 3
In San Diego, California, Miguel Tejada hit a go-ahead, two-run single with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh inning as San Diego took the NL wild-card lead and kept Cincinnati’s magic number for clinching the NL Central at three.
Tejada worked the count full against Nick Masset, before singling past diving shortstop Orlando Cabrera to bring in Chase Headley and Will Venable. Tejada had three RBIs for the Padres, who took a half-game lead over Atlanta in the wild-card race and remained a half-game behind San Francisco in the NL West.
Headley started the winning rally with a one-out single against Arthur Rhodes (4-4).
Pinch-hitter Nick Hundley walked and was forced on Venable’s grounder. Masset came on and walked David Eckstein to load the bases and bring up Tejada.
In other NL play it was:
• Nationals 8, Braves 3
• Phillies 3, Mets 2
• Cardinals 7, Cubs 1
• Astros 10, Pirates 7
• Brewers 6, Marlins 2
AP, ST PETERSBURG, Florida
Willy Aybar drove in two runs and Rafael Soriano set a team record with his 44th save of the season as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Seattle Mariners 5-3 on Friday to move back into first place in the American League East.
Tampa Bay reduced their magic number to three to clinch the franchise’s second playoff berth and moved a half-game ahead of New York, who lost to Boston.
Soriano, the fourth Tampa Bay reliever, pitched the ninth to break Roberto Hernandez’s franchise save record set in 1999.
Seattle’s Jason Vargas (9-12) lost his seventh straight start, which is one off the team record held by Randy Johnson (1992) and Rick Honeycutt (1980).
Tigers 10, Twins 1
In Detroit, Michigan, Justin Verlander struck out 11 batters in a complete game and Jhonny Peralta drove in four runs as Detroit thrashed Minnesota.
Miguel Cabrera had a two-run homer and scored three runs for the Tigers, who have won six of their last seven.
Verlander (18-8) improved to 5-0 in his last seven starts and became the first Tiger to strike out 200 batters in consecutive seasons since Jack Morris in 1982-1988.
Francisco Liriano (14-9) allowed two runs in three-plus innings, before leaving the game with an illness.
Rangers 10, Athletics 3
In Oakland, California, Tommy Hunter pitched effectively into the sixth inning to earn his career-high 13th victory and Vladimir Guerrero was a triple short of the cycle driving in four runs for Texas.
The Rangers reduced their magic number to two. They can clinch the AL West by beating Oakland in either of the final two games of this four-game series.
Hunter (13-4) scattered six hits over five-and-a-third innings and did not allow a runner past second base until the sixth, when the A’s scored their first run.
In other AL play it was:
• Blue Jays 6, Orioles 4
• Indians 7, Royals 3
• White Sox 2, Angels 1
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