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Fielder leads Brewers past Marlins 4-3
2007-06-01
Prince Fielder's strong May was built on a simple approach at the plate. Fielder set a franchise record with his 13th homer in the month, J.J. Hardy drove in two runs -- including the go-ahead tally in the eighth inning -- and the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers beat the Florida Marlins 4-3 Thursday night. Fielder's drive was his seventh in 11 days and 19th of the season, moving him into a tie with the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez for the major league lead. "I just try to put the barrel on it. Everything after that is out of my control," Fielder said. "I try to put the barrel on it and see what happens." Corey Hart doubled with two outs in the eighth and Hardy followed with a single off reliever Matt Lindstrom (0-2) for his team-leading 46th RBI. In other NL games, it was: San Diego 4, Pittsburgh 2 in 11 innings; Houston 10, Cincinnati 2; New York 4, San Francisco 2; St. Louis 7, Colorado 3; and Washington 11, Los Angeles 4. At Milwaukee, Fielder set a franchise record for homers in any month, surpassing the 12 set by Gorman Thomas (August 1979) and tied by Greg Vaughn (June 1996) and Jeromy Burnitz (June 1999). Carlos Villanueva (4-0) threw two scoreless innings for the Brewers, and Francisco Cordero earned his 19th save. Florida's biggest move Thursday came off the field, when it agreed to send reliever Randy Messenger to the San Francisco Giants for struggling closer Armando Benitez, who saved 47 games for the team in 2004. "We love Armando," assistant general manager Michael Hill said. "He did a great job for us in '04 establishing a single-season save record and brings experience, and we're happy to bring him back to the Marlins." Padres 4, Pirates 2, 11 innings Mike Cameron hit a go-ahead homer in the 11th inning for visiting San Diego after tying it with a run-scoring double in the ninth. The Padres tied it in the ninth against Salomon Torres on RBI doubles by Adrian Gonzalez and Cameron. Cameron led off the 11th with his fifth homer, a drive into the right-field seats off reliever Josh Sharpless (0-1). Josh Bard followed two pitches later with another drive that appeared to reach the right-field seats for his second homer. Bard took his home run trot, only to have Joe West's umpiring crew reverse the call after Pirates manager Jim Tracy successfully argued the drive struck a thin metal railing above the right-field wall and did not leave the park in Pittsburgh. Bard was tossed for arguing the call, but Rob Bowen -- running for Bard -- scored on Khalil Greene's sacrifice fly to get the run back and make it 4-2. Cla Meredith (2-2) got the win and Trevor Hoffman pitched the 11th for his 16th save. Astros 10, Reds 2 Lance Berkman ended a slump with a three-run homer, and Woody Williams had a season-high nine strikeouts to help host Houston snap a 10-game losing streak. Carlos Lee hit a two-run double during a four-run third inning off Bronson Arroyo (2-6) as the Astros won for just the second time in 14 games. Williams (2-7) allowed two runs and seven hits in five innings. He threw 117 pitches, also a season high, to earn his first win in four starts. Mets 4, Giants 2 Orlando Hernandez gave up two quick hits and little else over seven impressive innings, and host New York won for the fifth time in six games. Jose Reyes energized the Mets with a leadoff walk, his major league-leading 29th steal and an RBI single. Teammate Carlos Beltran bruised his right knee in a first-inning collision with Giants first baseman Rich Aurilia, and was pulled. He will get an MRI exam Friday. Giants slugger Barry Bonds went 0-for-3 and stayed at 746 career home runs. Hernandez (3-1) had his scoreless innings streak stopped at a career-high 19 while sending the Giants to their fifth loss in six tries. Billy Wagner pitched the ninth to earn his 13th save. Matt Cain (2-5) gave up 10 hits and four runs in seven innings for San Francisco. Cardinals 7, Rockies 3 Juan Encarnacion hit a two-out, three-run double in the sixth and Brad Thompson (4-1) allowed two runs in 7 1-3 innings for visiting St. Louis. Gary Bennett had three hits, including an RBI double in the eighth and a run-scoring single in the sixth for the Cardinals. Scott Rolen was 2-for-3 with an RBI double. Aaron Cook (4-2) went seven innings, giving up six hits and five runs. Nationals 11, Dodgers 4 Ryan Zimmerman homered and drove in four runs, Dmitri Young had four hits and host Washington broke out of its hitting slump. The Nationals mustered a total of nine hits the previous two nights while being outscored a combined 15-0, but had 14 hits in the finale of the three-game series. Washington's Micah Bowie (2-2) made his third start of the season and gave up three runs in 5 1-3 innings. Mark Hendrickson (2-3) gave up five runs and eight hits in 4 1-3 innings for the Dodgers. He has lost three straight decisions.
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