CHICAGO — Felipe Lopez hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the 11th inning to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 4-3 on Sunday night and avoid a weekend sweep.
Lopez drove a 3-2 pitch from Brian Schlitter (0-1) over the rightfield wall for his sixth home run of the season to put the Cardinals back in the NL Central lead, a half game ahead of Cincinnati.
The big hit came one day after Lopez was scratched from the starting lineup for reportedly arriving late to the ballpark. It also made a winner of closer Ryan Franklin (5-1), who pitched two innings.
The Cubs had one last chance, but Dennys Reyes struck out Kosuke Fukudome with the tying run on second for his first save.
ASTROS 4, REDS 0
Wandy Rodriguez allowed one hit in seven innings, Hunter Pence and Chris Johnson each hit a home run and host Houston beat Cincinnati. Michael Bourn drove in two runs with a double in Houston’s three-run seventh to help the Astros avoid a three-game sweep against Cincinnati. Rodriguez (8-11) struck out seven for his fifth victory in his last six starts. Brandon Lyon gave up one hit in the eighth and Matt Lindstrom did the same in the ninth to complete the shutout. Reds rookie starter Mike Leake (7-2) was perfect in the fifth and sixth innings before Johnson’s home run to left field with one out in the seventh made it 2-0. The home run extended his career-best hitting streak to nine games. Jason Castro followed with a single before a pinch-hit double by Jason Michaels chased Leake.
PHILLIES 4, ROCKIES 3
Jimmy Rollins singled home the tying run in the seventh inning then put host Philadelphia ahead for good by scoring on a wild pitch.
PADRES 6, PIRATES 3
Adrian Gonzalez and Chris Denorfia each hit a home run, Wade LeBlanc won for the first time in six weeks and visiting San Diego finished off its first sweep in Pittsburgh since 1998, beating the Pirates.
MARLINS 5, BRAVES 4
Wes Helms hit a bases-loaded RBI single with none out in the 11th inning, and host Florida earned its fourth victoryin its final at-bat of the week, beating Atlanta. The Marlins went 7-3 on their homestand, with six victories by one run.
BREWERS 8, NATIONALS 3
Casey McGehee and Rickie Weeks each hit a home run and host Milwaukee scored five unearned runs off starter Ross Detwiler to complete a three-game sweep of Washington.
DODGERS 1, METS 0
Clayton Kershaw scattered seven hits over eight innings in his first start since appealing a five-game suspension and Russell Martin hit a late RBI double in host Los Angeles’ shutout of New York.
GIANTS 3, DIAMONDBACKS 2
Buster Posey had four hits to extend his hitting streak to 18 games and Travis Ishikawa drove him in with a run-scoring single in the 10th inning, helping visiting San Francisco beat Arizona to complete a four-game sweep.
American League YANKEES 12, ROYALS 6
Curtis Granderson hit two home runs, Alex Rodriguez drove in three runs - the last when he was hit by a pitch on the hand - and host New York waited out a lengthy rain delay to beat Kansas City. Rodriguez will take his pursuit of 600 home runs on the road, after failing to reach the milestone for the third consecutive day. He grounded out in the second inning, hit an RBI double in the fourth and grounded out again in the fifth.
TWINS 10, ORIOLES 4
Jason Kubel hit his seventh career grand slam, Kevin Slowey took a five-hitter into the seventh inning and visiting Minnesota beat Baltimore to end its run of four consecutive road series losses.
RAYS 4, INDIANS 2
Reid Brignac hit a three-run homer that helped Wade Davis remain unbeaten in July, and visiting Tampa Bay beat Cleveland.
ATHLETICS 6, WHITE SOX 4
Dallas Braden won for the first time in 10 starts since his perfect game May 9, ending a five-game losing streak during that span in host Oakland’s victory over Chicago.
MARINERS 4, RED SOX 2
Michael Saunders lined a two-run single off Hideki Okajima in the bottom of the eighth inning to give host Seattle the lead. Milton Bradley’s squeeze bunt added another run, and the Mariners rallied for a victory over Boston.
BLUE JAYS 5-5, TIGERS 3-6
Ryan Raburn’s three-run double in the eighth inning capped a fourrun rally that carried injury-depleted Detroit to a 6-5 victory over Toronto to split a day-night doubleheader. In the opener, Lyle Overbay hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning to snap a tie and send Toronto to a 5-3 victory.
RANGERS 6, ANGELS 4 Josh Hamilton drove in three runs, Tommy Hunter pitched into the seventh inning to remain unbeaten and host Texas beat Los Angeles. The AL West-leading Rangers won three of four in the series to build a seven-game lead over the second-place Angels.
Sunday’s games
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Florida 5, Atlanta 4, 11 innings Philadelphia 4, Colorado 3 San Diego 6, Pittsburgh 3 Houston 4, Cincinnati 0 Milwaukee 8, Washington 3 LA Dodgers 1, NY Mets 0 San Francisco 3, Arizona 2, 10 innings St. Louis 4, Chicago Cubs 3, 11 innings AMERICAN LEAGUE NY Yankees 12, Kansas City 6 Tampa Bay 4, Cleveland 2 Toronto 5-5, Detroit 3-6 Minnesota 10, Baltimore 4 Oakland 6, Chicago White Sox 4 Seattle 4, Boston 2 Texas 6, LA Angels 4
Sports, Pages 18 on 07/26/2010