Red-Cardinals hand Brewers another loss

The St. Louis Cardinals' deal for Joel Pineiro didn't make much of a ripple at the trade deadline, but it's beginning to look like a key move that could help push the team back into contention in the National League Central.

Pineiro, who was acquired in a trade with the Boston Red Sox on July 31, gave up 2 runs and 5 hits in 7 innings as the Cardinals beat the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers 8-3 Wednesday night.

"When your starting pitching is out there shutting guys down, everybody thinks, 'Hey, we've got something going here. We've got a chance to win,'æ" Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.

Albert Pujols hit his 275th career home run, and Scott Rolen matched a career high with his eighth career 4-hit game as the Cardinals closed to within 3½ games of the division-leading Brewers.

St. Louis remains in third place in the NL Central, but will go for a three-game sweep of Milwaukee today.

Brewers slugger Prince Fielder went 0-for-4 Wednesday night, hours after the commissioner's office handed down a three-game suspension for his confrontation with an umpire on Sunday. Fielder is appealing the suspension.

Jim Edmonds also homered -- his first since June 9 -- before leaving the game in the bottom of the seventh with a sore leg that La Russa described as "an ouch."

Pineiro (2-1) was pitching out of Boston's bullpen before the trade, but the former Seattle Mariners starter appears to be making a successful transition back into the rotation. After losing his first start for the Cardinals, Pineiro held San Diego scoreless through seven innings last Thursday and now has won two in a row.

"My heart is being a starter, and I'm glad St. Louis gave me a chance," Pineiro said.

Meanwhile, the Brewers' starters continue to flow in a different direction.

Rookie Yovani Gallardo (4-3) gave up s7 runs and 9 hits in 5¿ innings -- including home runs to Pujols and Rolen in the first inning.

Gallardo, who went 4-0 in his first 7 starts after being called up in June, now has lost his last two. Gallardo gave up 11 runs in 2¿ innings in his most recent outing, a week ago at Colorado.

The Brewers haven't had a starting pitcher record a victory since Gallardo's win over Philadelphia on Aug. 3, and Milwaukee starters are 1-8 with a 7.64 ERA in their past 16 games.

Brewers manager Ned Yost said he continues to hope that one day, he'll go home, go to sleep and wake up the next day to find that his team has worked its way out of its pitching and hitting woes.

But for now, it's pretty much a nightmare.

"You just keep hoping that today's the day that we're going to break out of it," Yost said.

Pujols got to Gallardo first, homering off the scoreboard high in center field.

"It's just another home run," Pujols said. "That's how I look at it. What it means is I did something to help my team out to win today."

Edmonds singled, and Rolen hit a 2-run homer to the second deck in left field off a 1-1 pitch to give St. Louis a 3-0 lead.

"The game the third baseman had is Hall of Fame material," La Russa said.

Braves 6, Giants 3: Tim Hudson got his eighth straight win despite giving up Barry Bonds' 759th homer and being called for a couple of balks, and host Atlanta defeated San Francisco.

Bonds went deep on the first pitch of the sixth inning one week after breaking Hank Aaron's record. The new home run king extended his lead just across the street from where the Hammer went past Babe Ruth with No. 715 in 1974.

Hudson (14-5) gave up 3 runs and 8 hits in 8 innings and he went 2-for-3, including a run-scoring single in the second that gave the Braves a 2-0 lead.

Mets 10, Pirates 8: Moises Alou hit a 2-run homer in New York's f5-run first inning, and the visiting Mets did all of their scoring in the first and ninth innings to beat Pittsburgh.

David Wright hit a 2-run double ahead of Alou's third homer in three games as the Mets roughed up Matt Morris for 5 hits while taking a 5-0 lead in the first.

Alou had a game-winning, two-run single Tuesday night and drove in four runs Sunday against Florida. He is 17-for-46 (.370) with 6 homers and 14 RBI in is last 12 games.

Diamondbacks 9, Marlins 6: Arizona bounced back from Tuesday's 14-5 loss with 15 hits, including a 2-run homer by Chris Snyder. In beating host Florida.

The NL West leaders won for the 18th time in 23 games and improved to 5-1 against the Marlins this season.

Eric Byrnes, Mark Reynolds and Orlando Hudson all had 3 hits, and Doug Davis (10-10) allowed 7 hits and 4 runs over 5½ innings to win his fifth straight decision.

Nationals 4, Phillies 2: Tim Redding drove in 2 runs and limited visiting Philadelphia to 2 runs and 3 hits in 6-plus innings to lead Washington.

Redding (2-3) gave up a leadoff home run to Jayson Werth in the third and singles to Ryan Howard and Wes Helms. He struck out seven and walked three in winning for the first time in 6 starts.

American League

Indians 5, Tigers 2: Fausto Carmona struck out a career-high 10 and finally got his 14th win as host Cleveland regained a share of the AL Central lead with Detroit and split their two-game series with the Tigers.

Carmona (14-7) allowed 1 earned run and 4 hits in 8 innings. He snapped a personal three-game losing streak, a skid during which the Indians scored just 2 runs.

Orioles 6, Yankees 3 (10): Miguel Tejada hit a tiebreaking double off Mariano Rivera in the 10th inning, and Aubrey Huff added a 2-run homer to lead visiting Baltimore past New York.

Shelley Duncan's 3-run homer with two outs in the ninth sent the game to extra innings, but the Orioles bounced back quickly against Rivera (3-4), who blew a save in New York's 7-6 win in the series opener Monday night.

Alex Rodriguez went 4-for-4 for the Yankees, who remained 5 games behind first-place Boston in the AL East.

Devil Rays 6, Red Sox 5: Al Reyes struck out Manny Ramirez with two on for the final out, helping Tampa Bay starter Andy Sonnanstine (2-8) end a personal eight-game losing streak, as the visiting Devil Rays held off Boston .

The Red Sox, who trailed 6-0 early in the game, cut it to 6-5 on Julio Lugo's RBI double with none out in the ninth, but Reyes fanned Dustin Pedroia and came back from a 3-0 count to strike out Kevin Youkilis. After David Ortiz walked, the closer went right at Ramirez and struck him out swinging for his 18th save in 20 chances.

Twins 6, Mariners 1: Torii Hunter hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning and a grand slam in the ninth to lead visiting Minnesota over Seattle.

Hunter's single off rookie Brandon Morrow also came with the bases loaded, after starting pitcher Jarrod Washburn (8-10) threw wide of first base for an error on Nick Punto's sacrifice. That put runners at second and third, and Joe Mauer was intentionally walked before Hunter lined Morrow's first pitch for his 80th RBI.

Blue Jays 2, Angels 1: Shaun Marcum won his fifth straight start, and Alex Rios had 3 hits for Toronto in its win over visiting Los Angeles.

Marcum (10-4) retired the first eight batters before Reggie Willits singled in the third. He gave up 1 run and 4 hits, walked one and struck out six.

Rangers 4, Royals 3: Michael Young hit a 2-run double, and Ian Kinsler homered for Texas in lifting the host Rangers past Kansas City.

Royals starter Gil Meche allowed only 2 infield singles before Ramon Vazquez drew a leadoff walk and Kinsler singled in the sixth. Both runners scored when Young's drive split the gap in right-center, giving Texas a 2-1 lead.

Mike Wood (3-1) allowed 2 hits in 1 scoreless inning to earn the win.