Giants win in crowded NL wild-card race

Monday, Aug. 16, 2004 | 5:27 a.m.

The National League wild-card race got even tighter over the weekend, with the Chicago Cubs and San Diego tied for the lead and San Francisco less than one percentage point behind.

Brett Tomko allowed one run in six innings for his first win in nearly a month Sunday, leading the Giants to a 3-1 road victory over Philadelphia that completed a three-game sweep.

Tomko (6-6) gave up his only run on Bobby Abreu's sixth-inning homer. He was 0-1 in five starts since beating Arizona on July 19.

"Every time the ball is hit in the air here you kind of gasp a little bit," Tomko said. "It's one of those ballparks like Coors where you don't know what's going to happen. No lead is safe."

Chicago and San Diego are 63-54, while the Giants are 64-55, 6 1/2 games behind NL West-leading Los Angeles.

"There's still a long time, but we're already looking at the possibility of the wild card," Giants manager Felipe Alou said. "There are so many teams in that purgatory."

In other NL games, it was: Los Angeles 8, Chicago 5; San Diego 7, Cincinnati 2; St. Louis 10, Atlanta 4; Houston 5, Montreal 4; Florida 5, Milwaukee 3; Arizona 2, New York 0; and Pittsburgh 3, Colorado 0.

At Philadelphia, Dustin Hermanson got three outs for his third save since becoming the San Francisco closer.

Vicente Padilla (4-6) allowed two runs, four hits and four walks in seven innings. Philadelphia, which has lost six of seven, is 4 1/2 games behind the Giants in the wild-card race.

Dodgers 8, Cubs 5

At Chicago, Adrian Beltre and Shawn Green homered, and Steve Finley hit a go-ahead RBI single to help the Dodgers overcame a 5-3 deficit in the eighth. Milton Bradley drove in two runs in the eighth for Los Angeles.

Duaner Sanchez (3-1) pitched a scoreless seventh, and Eric Gagne got six outs for his 35th saves. Kyle Farnsworth (4-4) was the loser.

Corey Patterson hit a two-run homer, and Ramon Martinez and Michael Barrett each hit solo shots for Chicago.

Padres 7, Reds 2

At Cincinnati, Adam Eaton (8-10) allowed two runs in the first inning but kept Cincinnati scoreless over the next five, and also drove in two runs.

Eaton (8-10) gave up eight hits and one walk with eight strikeouts in six innings, and went 2-for-2 with two doubles, two runs scored and a sacrifice bunt.

Luke Hudson (0-1), recalled from Triple-A Louisville to make his first career start, was roughed up for six runs - five earned - and eight hits in 5-1-3 innings.

Cardinals 10, Braves 4

At Atlanta, Scott Rolen hit a pair of two-run homers off John Thomson (9-8) to become the first NL player to reach 100 RBIs this season and Danny Haren (1-2) won for the first time since Aug. 11 last year, allowing three runs and seven hits in five innings. Haren started because Chris Carpenter had a stiff back.

Albert Pujols added another home run as the Cardinals won two of three in the battle of division leaders.

Chipper Jones hit a solo homer for the Braves, giving him 1,000 RBIs in his career.

Astros 5, Expos 4

At Montreal, pinch-hitter Orlando Palmeiro singled home the go-ahead run off Luis Ayala (4-8) to cap a rally from a 4-2 deficit in the ninth, stopping Montreal's winning streak at a season-high seven. Houston had been 0-51 when trailing after eight innings.

Dan Micelli (5-6) allowed one run in two innings, and Brad Lidge got three outs for his 13th save in 15 chances. The Astros, six games back in the NL wild-card race, ended a four-game losing streak, winning for just the second time in eight games.

Marlins 5, Brewers 3

At Milwaukee, Luis Castillo tied the score with a ninth-inning single, and pinch-hitter Damion Easley hit a two-run double in the 10th off Ben Hendrickson (0-5).

Doug Davis pitched seven shutout innings for Milwaukee, which took a 3-0 lead against Josh Beckett before Miguel Cabrera homered off Matt Wise in the eighth.

Alex Gonzalez reached on an error by second baseman Bill Hall leading off the ninth, and Juan Pierre stopped an 0-for-18 slide with a one-out RBI triple off Dan Kolb.

Rudy Seanez (1-0) won, and Armando Benitez pitched a perfect 10th for his 34th save.

Diamondbacks 2, Mets 0

At New York, Randy Johnson (12-10) tied his season high with 14 strikeouts, allowing five hits in 8 1-3 innings, and Arizona stopped a nine-game losing streak.

Steve Trachsel (10-9) gave up two runs and nine hits in 6 2-3 innings. Scott Hairston added a run-scoring single in the seventh off Mike DeJean.

Pirates 3, Rockies 0

At Pittsburgh, Craig Wilson had three hits and two RBIs, and Josh Fogg (7-8) allowed four hits in six innings to win for the first time in eight starts since July 2.

Mike Gonzalez, Salomon Torres and Jose Mesa completed the five-hitter, with Mesa getting three outs for his 33rd save.

The game was interrupted by a fourth-inning fight that led to the ejections of Colorado starting pitcher Joe Kennedy (5-5) and Pirates catcher Jason Kendall, who was hit with a pitch.