Chicago beats St. Louis, 2-1, on a pinch-hit home run.
ST. LOUIS – Pinch-hitter Mark Bellhorn homered off Steve Kline leading off the ninth inning and the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 on Saturday behind a big day from starter Mark Prior.
The NL Central leaders have won six of seven. They also won for only the second time in 11 games the last two seasons at Busch Stadium, and for only the fourth time in 25 games there since 2000.
Bellhorn, pinch hitting for reliever Mike Remlinger, hit a 3-2 pitch from Kline (1-4) over the left-field wall for his second homer of the season and second career pinch homer.
Phillies 9, Astros 4
HOUSTON – Placido Polanco homered, doubled, singled and scored three runs to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 9-4 victory over the Houston Astros.
Brandon Duckworth (3-1) recorded the victory in his first game since being recalled from Triple-A Scranton.
Brewers 8, Reds 6
MILWAUKEE – Eddie Perez hit a three-run homer off Scott Williamson in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the Milwaukee Brewers an 8-6 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
Williamson (3-2), who hadn’t pitched in six days, walked Richie Sexson and John Vander Wal before Perez hit the first pitch for his fifth homer.
Mets 5, Giants 1
SAN FRANCISCO – Cliff Floyd hit a two-run homer and Steve Trachsel became the first Mets pitcher to go more than seven innings this season as New York finally won at Pacific Bell Park, beating the San Francisco Giants 5-1.
The Mets had lost their first 12 regular season games at the new ballpark. They split a pair of playoffs games in 2000.
Expos 6, Rockies 4
DENVER – Pinch-hitter Henry Mateo hit a two-run single in the 10th inning and the Montreal Expos overcame the early ejection of starter Zach Day to beat the Colorado Rockies 6-4.
Day was ejected in the third inning after umpires determined he had a foreign substance on his fingers.
The Expos lost a pair of two-run leads after that, but loaded the bases off Todd Jones (1-2) to open the 10th.
American League
Rangers 5, Yankees 2
NEW YORK – Ismael Valdes came off the disabled list and combined with three perfect relievers to silence the Yankees, and the Texas Rangers took advantage of two tough errors to beat New York 5-2.
Texas pitchers retired the last 16 batters. Manager Buck Showalter’s last-place team sent his former club to its third straight series loss.
Mariners 6, Tigers 3
DETROIT – Bret Boone homered twice and drove in four runs to back Jamie Moyer and lead the Seattle Mariners to a 6-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
Both of Boone’s homers cleared Comerica Park’s new fence in left and fell short of the old one. He became the first player to hit two new-fence homers in the same game. Ichiro Suzuki added three hits, including a homer.
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