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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

NL roundup: Phillies top Dodgers; Durbin gets 1st win

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[July 18, 2007]  The Philadelphia Phillies pounded the Los Angeles Dodgers' pitching staff so handily that even starter J.D. Durbin got a few hits.

Along with picking up his first major league victory, the right-hander had three of Philadelphia's 26 hits in a 15-3 rout of the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Tuesday night.

Ryan Howard hit a pair of two-run homers, and Shane Victorino and Aaron Rowand had five hits each for the Phillies, who fell one shy of their franchise record and snapped the Dodgers' season-high five-game winning streak.

"I haven't hit like that since high school," said Durbin, filling in for Jon Lieber, who had season-ending foot surgery. "I just saw the ball real well tonight and fortunately got a few hits. It was just an incredible night for me."

The Phillies battered Mark Hendrickson (4-5) and rookie reliever Eric Stults, who combined to give up 11 runs and 19 hits through the first five innings, one night after All-Star Brad Penny held Philadelphia to a run and four hits over seven innings in a 10-3 loss.

Chase Utley was 3-for-6 with a pair of RBI doubles and a run-scoring single, increasing his NL-leading RBI total to 79. Pat Burrell hit his 200th career homer -- 12th of the season -- which came two pitches after Rowand's home run in the seventh against Rudy Seanez.

Victorino was 5-for-6 with a two-run triple. Rowand also was 5-for-6 with a homer, an RBI single and three doubles. Victorino's five-hit game was his second in the majors, while Rowand accomplished the feat for the first time.

"It was extraordinary for something like this to happen to us," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "But at least nobody got injured."

In other NL games, it was Cincinnati 6, Atlanta 5; San Francisco 4, the Chicago Cubs 2; Colorado 6, Pittsburgh 2; Florida 4, St. Louis 0; Houston 4, Washington 2; Milwaukee 3, Arizona 2; and the New York Mets 7, San Diego 0.

Durbin (1-2) allowed a run and six hits over six innings and struck out three in his third big league start. He also had his first three major league hits.

The Phillies are the fourth organization Durbin has been with since the start of spring training. He was released by Minnesota, Arizona and Boston -- all before the second week of April.

"It started out with J.D. Durbin keeping their bats quiet," shortstop Jimmy Rollins said. "If we're not in the game early, then things don't happen the way they did."

Reds 6, Braves 5

At Atlanta, Bronson Arroyo (4-10) shut out Atlanta for seven innings and David Weathers closed the door on the Braves' comeback by getting Andruw Jones to fly out to the warning track for his 18th save.

Braves rookie Jo-Jo Reyes (0-1) gave up eight hits and four runs in 6 1-3 innings.

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Giants 4, Cubs 2

At Chicago, Dave Roberts walked with the bases loaded to break a tie in the eighth inning and Barry Zito (7-9) won for the first time in seven starts as the Giants ended a five-game losing streak.

Barry Bonds lined out as a pinch hitter two batters before Roberts walked, stretching his slump to 0-for-21 and keeping him at 751 homers, four behind Hank Aaron's career mark.

Rockies 6, Pirates 2

At Pittsburgh, Josh Fogg (5-6) scattered five hits over seven innings as Colorado handed the Pirates their fifth straight loss.

Every Colorado starter had at least one hit, six players scored a run and five had an RBI -- most of the damage coming off Pittsburgh starter Shane Youman (2-1).

Marlins 4, Cardinals 0

At Miami, Hanley Ramirez drove in three runs and Rick Vanden Hurk (3-2) pitched five sharp innings after getting recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque earlier in the day.

Brad Thompson (6-4) pitched six innings, giving up three runs and seven hits for St. Louis.

Astros 4, Nationals 2

At Washington, Carlos Lee hit a two-run homer, Hunter Pence added a tiebreaking solo shot off Tim Redding (1-2), and Roy Oswalt made his first relief appearance in more than a year.

All but one of the game's runs came on homers, with Washington's Ronnie Belliard connecting off Chris Sampson (7-6) in the first and Ryan Zimmerman going deep in the fourth.

Brad Lidge pitched the ninth for his first save since Sept. 28, 2006.

Brewers 3, Diamondbacks 2

At Milwaukee, Tony Graffanino tied the game with a homer in the fourth and Corey Hart's sacrifice fly later in the inning off Yusmeiro Petit (1-2) helped the Brewers win their fourth straight.

Claudio Vargas (7-2) gave up two runs and five hits in five innings, sending the Arizona to its seventh straight road loss.

Mets 7, Padres 0

At San Diego, Orlando Hernandez (6-4) outpitched All-Star Jake Peavy (9-4) and outscored the Padres all by himself.

El Duque singled in the fifth, stole second and then scored on Jose Valentin's single up the middle. He is the first big league pitcher to steal bases in consecutive starts since the Mets' Tom Seaver in May 1967, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

[Associated Press]

            

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