Fielder motors Brewers to win
On a day when he hit the ball hard five times, Prince Fielder's legs allowed the Milwaukee Brewers to salvage some momentum from a disappointing trip.
Fielder scored the go-ahead run in the 11th inning on pinch hitter Gabe Kapler's single, and the Brewers defeated the host Washington Nationals 4-3 Monday.
"Prince just missed 4 homers. He almost had a 4-homer day," said Brewers manager Ned Yost. "You add up his outs, and ... it could have been 1,500 feet."
Fielder singled down the right-field line and was thrown out by Elijah Dukes trying to stretch the hit into a double, then flied out deep three times, including an eighth-inning sacrifice fly that put the Brewers ahead 3-2.
Fielder led off the 11th with an opposite-field double to left against an exaggerated shift, then advanced on Corey Hart's sacrifice. After Russell Branyan struck out, Kapler lined the first pitch from Saul Rivera (3-2) to center for an RBI single.
"Every guy has a different philosophy in regards to pinch hitting, but mine is just to try to get a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on it -- whether it be early in the count or late in the count," Kapler said.
Carlos Villanueva (3-5) pitched 2 scoreless innings, striking out five of six batters, and Salomon Torres got three outs for his third save in five tries.
Milwaukee's Ben Sheets gave up 2 runs and 7 hits in 6 innings.
Washington managed only 1 hit in the last five innings: Dmitri Young's disputed two-out, solo homer in the eighth.
"When our offense shows up, things will obviously will be easier for us," said Nationals manager Manny Acta.
Young's drive off Brian Shouse originally was ruled in play by second base umpire Paul Emmel. The ball appeared to hit off the top of a wall behind the center-field fence and bounced away from center fielder Mike Cameron for a triple.
Acta asked umpires to confer, and Young was awarded his first homer since Aug. 27 at Los Angeles. As Young trotted home with the tying run, Yost argued to no avail.
"When it bounced, it was too far away," Acta said. "When he hits it, the padding, it doesn't bounce that far away."
Cameron suggested changing the color of the second wall -- which is several feet behind the first -- to alleviate the confusion. Both walls are green.
"They got it right," Cameron said. "They've got to change it or do something to fix that."
Milwaukee split the four-game holiday weekend series, finishing a 4-6 trip.
"It was good to battle back and win this game," Yost said.
Nationals starter Jason Bergmann pitched 5¿ scoreless innings, stretching his shutout streak to 19¿ innings since being recalled from Triple-A Columbus on May 14. He allowed 4 hits, struck out eight and walked one, leaving with a 2-0 lead.
"I tried my best for as long as I could. Hopefully, next time we'll get the W."
Cristian Guzman's solo homered staked the Nationals to a 1-0 lead in the first, and Jesus Flores hit an RBI double in the second.
Jason Kendall cut the lead with a run-scoring single off Brian Sanches in the seventh. Young then couldn't backhand pinch hitter Joe Dillon's check-swing bouncer between first and second, and the ball dribbled into right field for an error that allowed J.J. Hardy to score the tying run.
Marlins 7, Mets 3: Host New York lost for the seventh time in eight games, this time a decision to Florida.
Luis Gonzalez hit a 3-run double for the NL East-leading Marlins (30-20), who moved 10 games over .500 for the first time since Sept. 14, 2005.
Jose Reyes homered twice for the Mets but committed a two-out error at shortstop in the first that led to 2 unearned runs. Mike Pelfrey (2-6) lost his sixth straight start, allowing 6 runs -- 4 earned -- and 6 hits in 4 innings as fourth-place New York (23-26) fell three games below .500 for the first time since Sept. 18, 2005, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Phillies 20, Rockies 5: Chase Utley drove in a career-best 6 runs, Jamie Moyer (5-3) had a season-high 7 strikeouts and host Philadelphia scored its most runs since a 21-8 win over the Cubs on July 3, 1999, according to Elias.
Utley hit a 3-run shot to tie Lance Berkman and Dan Uggla for the major-league lead with 16 homers. Utley finished 3-for-6, Chris Coste added a 3-run homer and Pedro Feliz had 4 hits and 4 RBI.
Moyer allowed 4 runs and 6 hits in 7 innings for his 235th victory. Jorge De La Rosa (1-3) was a 3-run lead, allowing 7 runs -- 6 earned -- and 4 hits in 3½ innings. The NL champion Rockies dropped to 20-31.
Braves 7, Diamondbacks 3: Mark Teixeira drove in 4 runs to help host Atlanta beat Brandon Webb and Arizona.
Webb (9-2) allowed 7 runs -- 4 earned -- and a season-high 10 hits in 4½ innings, his shortest start since Oct. 1, 2006. He won his first 9 decisions before losing 3-1 at Florida on Wednesday.
Webb struck out eight, walked three and fell behind 5-1 in the second inning. The hits were the most he allowed since San Diego had 11 last July 15.
Manny Acosta (3-1) pitched 2 hitless innings to win in relief of Jair Jurrjens, who gave up 3 runs and 8 hits in 4¿ innings.
American League
Orioles 6, Yankees 1: Garrett Olson pitched 7 innings of 3-hit ball, Nick Markakis went 3-for-4 with a home run, and host Baltimore ended New York's five-game winning streak.
Aubrey Huff also homered for the Orioles, who snapped a five-game skid that began with successive defeats in New York. Markakis is 9-for-11 with 2 doubles and a homer against Darrell Rasner (3-1), who gave up 1 run and 5 hits in 6 innings.
Hideki Matsui had 3 of New York's 5 hits and scored the Yankees' lone run, on a ninth-inning single by Chad Moeller.
Blue Jays 7, Royals 2: Shaun Marcum won for the first time in 4 starts, Gregg Zaun hit a 2-run homer and host Toronto completed its first four-game sweep of Kansas City.
Marcum (5-3) gave up 2 runs -- 1 earned -- and 5 hits in 7½ innings, lowering his ERA to 2.64. He struck out six and walked one. The Kansas City, Mo., native is 3-1 with an 1.09 ERA in seven career games against his hometown team.
Brett Tomko (2-6) allowed 7 runs -- 6 earned -- and 8 hits in 6 innings. He has won once in his past 9 starts, his ERA rising to 6.11.