Associated Press
ATLANTA ó Jeff Francoeur hit a tying two-run homer with two outs in the ninth and Chipper Jones drove in the winning run with a 12th-inning single, helping the Atlanta Braves rally for a 6-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night.
The Cubs wasted a brilliant performance by rookie starter Randy Wells. He didn’t allow a hit until Jones singled with two outs in the seventh.
Alfonso Soriano and Derek Lee homered for Chicago, which couldn’t hold a 5-0 lead.
Garret Anderson started the comeback with his second homer ó a leadoff shot off Wells in the eighth. The struggling Francoeur, a former phenom now being mentioned in reports of a possible trade, homered off Kevin Gregg in the ninth.
Pirates 3, Mets 1
PITTSBURGH ó Zach Duke pitched seven effective innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat Johan Santana and the New York Mets 3-1 on Tuesday night.
Jason Jaramillo hit his first major league homer for the Pirates, who have won three of four. Freddy Sanchez and Nate McLouth each had two hits.
Duke (6-4) allowed one run and eight hits to lower his ERA to 2.62. He has allowed two earned runs or less in eight of his 11 starts.
Santana (7-3) gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings for New York, which has lost three of four. The Mets have scored two runs or less in five of Santana’s 11 starts.
Marlins 10, Brewers 3
MIAMI ó Cody Ross hit a grand slam and Dan Uggla belted a milestone home run to help the Marlins beat the Brewers.
Uggla became the fastest second baseman to reach 100 career homers with a two-run shot in the second. It came in his 502nd game as a second baseman, beating Alfonso Soriano by 34 games.
Nationals 10, Giants 6
WASHINGTON ó Christian Guzman hit a tiebreaking RBI single in Washington’s six-run eighth inning, helping the Nationals beat the Giants.
Guzman was in a 7-for-45 skid before his hit off Merkin Valdez gave the Nationals a 6-5 lead.
Ron Villone (3-0) pitched 12/3 scoreless innings to get the win for the Nationals, who fired pitching coach Randy St. Claire ó the longest-tenured member of their staff ó before the game. Steve McCatty was promoted from Triple-A Syracuse to replace St. Claire.
Cardinals 5, Reds 2
ST. LOUIS ó Rookie Nick Stavinoha gave St. Louis another key hit with a two-run, go-ahead double in the sixth inning and stand-in starter Brad Thompson (1-1) worked five effective innings for the Cardinals.
Stavinoha has 12 RBIs in only 45 at-bats for the Cardinals, who beat the Reds for the sixth time in seven games at Busch Stadium since last season. Albert Pujols had two RBIs.Bronson Arroyo (7-4) needed 98 pitches to get through five innings with the score tied, and then recorded only one more out in the Cardinals’ three-run sixth. Skip Schumaker helped elevate the pitch count, fouling off nine in a 14-pitch at-bat in the third before finally striking out on a full count.
Astros 3, Rockies 2, 11 innings
HOUSTON ó Miguel Tejada hit a game-winning homer off Josh Fogg in the 11th inning to cap a three-RBI night and lift the Astros to a win over the Rockies.
Tejada, the NL’s leading hitter coming in with a .353 average, tied the game in the ninth with an RBI single off Huston Street. He also had an RBI single in the fifth.
Fogg (0-1) got Michael Bourn on a groundout leading off the 11th before Tejada drove a 2-2 pitch into the left-field porch, his sixth homer.