Albers, Astros stop Cardinals
Matt Albers is showing the Houston Astros how badly he wants to stay in the majors.
The 24-year-old right-hander pitched 7 innings of 3-hit ball, Lance Berkman homered for the second consecutive game and Houston beat the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 on Thursday.
"I felt pretty good," Albers said. "My fastball was down in the zone and I mixed my curve in. Things went pretty well for me. I think this is one of my better starts."
Albers (4-6) walked four and struck out three, shutting down the Cardinals' offense for the second time this season. He earned his first major-league victory in St. Louis on May 5, giving up 3 hits in 7½ innings in the Astros' 13-0 win.
Joel Pineiro (3-2) lost for the first time in 5 starts.
The Cardinals, who trail the Cubs by 3 games in the NL Central, were just as flustered as they were on Wednesday night, when they mustered only four hits off Roy Oswalt.
"We were competing in our at-bats. Give credit to their pitchers," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said.
Phillies 11, Mets 10: Chase Utley hit an RBI single off Billy Wagner in the ninth inning and the Philadelphia Phillies completed a huge sweep of the first-place New York Mets by rallying for an 11-10 victory Thursday in one of the wildest games of the season.
By winning four straight against the Mets, Philadelphia moved within two games of the NL East leaders and suddenly set up an exciting September pennant race.
Reds 5, Pirates 4: Alex Gonzalez scored from first on Ken Griffey Jr.'s pop single that fell among three Pittsburgh fielders in the ninth inning, and visiting Cincinnati overcame deficits of 2-0 and 4-3 to win their eighth in 10 games
American League
Yankees 5, Red Sox 0: Chien-Ming Wang took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning, Robinson Cano homered twice off Curt Schilling, and host New York comp[leted a three-game sweep of first-place Boston .
Wang (16-6) and a pair of rookie relievers combined on a 2-hitter in a game that included two ejections. Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter went 4-for-4.
Indians 6, Mariners 5: Kenny Lofton drew a bases-loaded walk from Seattle's Rick White to force home the winning run in the ninth inning to give host Cleveland its sixth straight victory.
The Indians maintained their 4½-game lead over Detroit in the AL Central. The Mariners, who have lost six in a row, fell a game behind the New York Yankees in the wild-card race.
Tigers 6, Royals 1: Curtis Granderson and Magglio Ordonez each homered and got 3 hits, and Jeremy Bonderman halted his six-game losing streak as Detroit avoided a sweep at Kansas City,
Bonderman (11-7) went 7 innings and gave up 6 hits and 1 run, his best outing since July 13.
Devil Rays 8, Orioles 6: Tampa Bay completed its first road sweep in more than two years, getting a 3-run homer from B.J. Upton to extend Baltimore's losing streak to nine games.
Josh Wilson and Akinori Iwamura also homered for the Devil Rays.