Associated Press
MIAMI ó At first, Clayton Kershaw’s pitching had teammates sprinting and diving for balls. Then he found a groove and flirted with a no-hitter.
The bid ended with Cody Ross’ double leading off the eighth inning, ending Kershaw’s day, and the Los Angeles Dodgers settled for a four-hitter to beat the Florida Marlins 12-5 Sunday.
The double came on the 112th pitch by Kershaw, a career high. Guillermo Mota gave up a grand slam to Ross with two out in the ninth.
Kershaw (2-3) benefited from three fine defensive plays in the first two innings, then settled down. Given a 6-0 lead by the third, the 21-year-old left-hander struck out nine and pitched around four walks.
Astros 6, Cubs 5
CHICAGO ó Ivan Rodriguez hit his 300th home run, Lance Berkman had two hits and an RBI and Houston snapped the Cubs’ five-game winning streak.
Derrek Lee was 4-for-5 with a home run for the Cubs.
Brewers 8, Cardinals 2
ST. LOUISó Prince Fielder hit his fourth homer in the last five games to help Milwaukee win its fifth in a row.
Manny Parra (3-4) won his third straight start and the Brewers got two-run singles from J.J. Hardy and Jason Kendall to win their 11th in 13 games.
Fielder has four homers and 10 RBIs the last five games.
Phillies 8, Nationals 6
WASHINGTON ó A two-base error on an eighth-inning bunt provided the go-ahead run as the Phillies completed a sweep.
Sergio Escalona (1-0), called up overnight from Double-A Reading, got the win in his major league debut by throwing one scoreless inning of middle relief, practically a standout performance among the only two National League clubs with team ERAs over 5.00.
Pirates 11, Rockies 4
PITTSBURGH ó Nate McLouth had three of his four RBIs during a 10-run seventh inning, and the Pirates came from behind to take their second straight from Colorado.
Padres 3, Reds 1
SAN DIEGO ó Jake Peavy threw a four-hitter, Kevin Kouzmanoff drove in two runs and the Padres beat Cincinnati.
Giants 2, Mets 0
SAN FRANCISCO ó Matt Cain stymied the mighty Mets and singled in a run to help his cause, and the San Francisco Giants ended an eight-game losing streak to New York
Bengie Molina also had an RBI single.