NEW YORK — Gio Gonzalez earned his big league-leading 19th victory and the Washington Nationals backed him with three home runs to beat the listless New York Mets 5-1 Monday night. NEW YORK — Gio Gonzalez earned his big league-leading
NEW YORK — Gio Gonzalez earned his big league-leading 19th victory and the Washington Nationals backed him with three home runs to beat the listless New York Mets 5-1 Monday night.
Kurt Suzuki put the Nationals ahead with a home run right after catcher Kelly Shoppach dropped his foul popup for an error. Ryan Zimmerman hit a two-run shot later in the third inning, and Ian Desmond added a two-run drive in the fourth.
That was plenty for Gonzalez (19-7) and the team with the best record in the majors.
REDS 4, PIRATES 3 (14)
CINCINNATI — Ryan Ludwick drove in the winning run with a two-out infield single in the 14th inning, lifting Cincinnati to a marathon victory that handed the fading Pittsburgh Pirates their fourth straight loss.
Rick VandenHurk (0-1) started the 14th and gave up a single by Devin Mesoraco. Brandon Phillips reached when the Pirates failed to get a forceout on his grounder, and the runners advanced on a wild pitch.
Pirates shortstop Chase d’Arnaud couldn’t come up with Ludwick’s grounder in the hole, finally ending it.
PADRES 11, CARDINALS 3
SAN DIEGO — Cameron Maybin hit a two-run homer, Will Venable had three RBIs, and San Diego beat the struggling Cardinals.
St. Louis, which has lost four of five, had its lead cut to one game over the idle Los Angeles Dodgers for the second NL wild-card berth. The loss started a crucial seven-game West Coast trip for the Cardinals, who begin a four-game set Thursday night against the Dodgers.
BREWERS 4, BRAVES 1
MILWAUKEE — Norichika Aoki hit a two-run double to key a four-run seventh inning. and Milwaukee rallied to beat Atlanta.
The Brewers sent 10 batters to the plate in the seventh but did all their damage on two hits and a sacrifice fly in snapping the Braves’ five-game winning streak.
ROCKIES 6, GIANTS 5
DENVER — Rockies pitcher Alex White homered, and Colorado finally solved a struggling Ryan Vogelsong, beating San Francisco to snap a five-game losing streak.
Buster Posey and Hunter Pence went deep for the Giants, who lost for only the second time in 10 road games. San Francisco’s lead in the NL West was trimmed to five games over the idle Los Angeles Dodgers.
PHILLIES 3, MARLINS 1
PHILADELPHIA — Kyle Kendrick struck out a career-high eight over seven strong innings to lead Philadelphia past Miami for its fifth straight win.
Staked to a 3-0 lead, Kendrick (9-10) took a no-hitter into the sixth before Rob Brantly’s leadoff single. The right-hander escaped a bases-loaded jam when he struck out Giancarlo Stanton.
CUBS 4, ASTROS 1
HOUSTON — Dave Sappelt scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch and had three RBIs, leading Chicago over Houston in a matchup of teams with the two worst records in the majors.
Sappelt, recalled from Triple-A Iowa on Sept. 1, drove in his first run for the Cubs with a double in the second inning. The game was tied 1-all in the sixth before he scored on a wild pitch by Fernando Rodriguez (1-10). Sappelt added a two-run double in the seventh, and Chicago won its fourth straight, matching a season high.
White Sox 6, Tigers 1
CHICAGO — Jose Quintana pitched effectively into the eighth inning, Alex Rios and A.J. Pierzynski hit back-to-back homers in the sixth, and Chicago beat Detroit to increase its AL Central lead to three games.
The White Sox had lost seven straight to Detroit, managed just two hits against Rick Porcello (9-12) and were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position when an error on second baseman Omar Infante gave them an opening.
ATHLETICS 3, ANGELS 1
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Jarrod Parker pitched seven innings of three-hit ball, Brandon Moss and Cliff Pennington homered, and Oakland snapped Los Angeles’ six-game winning streak.
Coco Crisp hit a leadoff triple and scored for the A’s, who opened a key four-game series against their California rivals with a measure of revenge for the Angels’ three-game sweep in Oakland last week. Those are the only losses since Aug. 23 for the A’s, who have won 13 of 16.
TWINS 7, INDIANS 2
MINNEAPOLIS — Samuel Deduno struck out six in seven innings, and Pedro Florimon made two stellar defensive plays to go with a double and a triple, lifting the Twins to the victory.
Deduno (6-3) gave up just three hits and walked three, Ryan Doumit homered, and Justin Morneau drove in two runs for the Twins, who took the final three games of the four-game series.
