Freddie Freeman #5 of the Atlanta Braves is congratulated by teammates after scoring on a Brooks Conrad single in the fourth inning against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field on June 29, 2011 in Seattle, Washington. The Braves defeated the Mariners 5-3.Otto Greule Jr
Freddie Freeman had three hits and Derek Lowe won for the first time since May 6, as the Atlanta Braves completed a three-game sweep of the host Seattle Mariners with a 5-3 victory Wednesday.
Freeman had a two-run single during Atlanta's three-run fifth inning against Seattle ace Felix Hernandez (8-7).
Lowe (4-6) allowed one run and four hits in six innings to help Atlanta climb a season-high 12 games above .500. Craig Kimbrel struck out two in the ninth and picked up his third save in the series and 23rd overall.
Hot-hitting Brian McCann added a run-scoring single in the seventh. McCann went 8-for-14 in the series.
Hernandez allowed five runs and 10 hits in 7 2/3 innings.
Atlanta bunched consecutive fourth-inning singles from Freeman, Dan Uggla and Brooks Conrad for its first run.
Nate McLouth scored on a wild pitch in the fifth before Freeman capped the inning with a two-run single to centre to give the Braves a 4-0 edge.
Josh Bard had a run-scoring single in the fifth to get Seattle on the board and Dustin Ackley hit a two-run homer in the eighth.
Yankees 5, Brewers 2
Russell Martin hit a three-run homer to back seven strong innings by A.J. Burnett and the host New York Yankees extended their winning streak to four games with a 5-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night.
Burnett (8-6) limited the Brewers to two runs on seven hits to help the Yankees open a 2 1/2-game lead over the Boston Red Sox atop the American League East.
Jorge Posada homered and Nick Swisher had a run-scoring single, giving him eight RBIs in the last four games.
Mariano Rivera earned his 21st save and moved into 12th on the career appearance list with 1,011.
Ryan Braun had three hits and an RBI single to extend his hitting streak to 19 games as Milwaukee saw its lead in the National League Central shaved to one game over St. Louis.
Martin's blast capped a four-run fourth against Brewers starter Shaun Marcum (7-3). It was his 10th homer of the year and first since May 24.
Marcum allowed four runs, five hits, walked three and struck out six in five innings.
Padres 4, Royals 1
Tim Stauffer threw seven strong innings and the San Diego Padres completed their first series sweep with a 4-1 win over the visiting Kansas City Royals on Wednesday.
Stauffer (4-5) gave up one run on four hits while striking out six for San Diego, which has won seven of its last eight games, including four straight.
Stauffer, who has gone at least seven innings in his last five starts, has allowed a four earned runs in his last 36 innings.
Heath Bell worked around two baserunners in the ninth inning for his 23rd save and fourth in as many days.
The Padres scored four unearned runs in the third inning off Bruce Chen (4-2) after Stauffer started the rally by reaching base on third baseman Mike Moustakas' error.
The Royals' Billy Butler grounded out as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning to end his streak of 131 consecutive series with at least one hit.
Indians 6, Diamondbacks 2
Orlando Cabrera matched a career-high with four hits to help the Cleveland Indians to a 6-2 victory over the host Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday.
Carlos Carrasco (8-4) allowed two runs and four hits and struck out seven in seven innings to win for the seventh time in nine decisions while handing Arizona its fourth defeat in five games.
Asdrubal Cabrera added three hits for as Cleveland, which won two of three games against the Diamondbacks.
Carlos Santana had a run-scoring single in the first and Michael Brantley and Asdrubal Cabrera each delivered run-scoring singles in the second.
Cleveland boosted the lead to 4-0 in the third when Shelley Duncan scored on Jack Hannahan's infield out.
Justin Upton hit his 13th homer in the fourth for Arizona's first hit. Stephen Drew homered in the sixth to pull the Diamondbacks within 4-2.
Travis Buck had a run-scoring single in the eighth and Orlando Cabrera added a ninth-inning RBI-single for the Indians, who had 15 hits.
Arizona starter Zach Duke (1-3) gave up four runs and nine hits in five innings.
Angels 1, Nationals 0
Dan Haren pitched 7 1/3 shutout innings as the Los Angeles Angels scored an unearned run in the fourth to record a 1-0 victory over the visiting Washington Nationals on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep.
Haren (8-5) allowed two hits - one on a bunt - and struck out six for the Angels, who have won eight of their last 10 games. It was Haren's 99th career victory.
Nationals starter Jordan Zimmermann (5-7), who improved his ERA to 0.85 in June, allowed just four hits and the unearned run in eight innings to take the hard-luck loss. It was Zimmermann's first career complete game.
After blowing his last three opportunities, Jordan Walden pitched the ninth inning for his 18th save of the season.
Bobby Abreu walked to lead off the fourth inning and moved to third on Ryan Zimmerman's throwing error. Abreu later scored on a double-play grounder by Howie Kendrick for the game's lone run.
The Nationals have lost four of five, but finished June with a 17-10 mark.
Washington's Jerry Hairston Jr. left the game with a contusion on his right hand after being hit by a pitch in the fifth.
Phillies 2, Red Sox 1
Raul Ibanez belted a solo homer to snap a tie and rookie Vance Worley tossed seven strong innings as the host Philadelphia Phillies recorded a 2-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday.
Ibanez, who entered the game in a 1-for-22 slump, had three hits - including an RBI single in the second inning - as Philadelphia posted its 13th win in 17 contests.
Ibanez led off the seventh by depositing a curveball from John Lackey (5-7) into the seats in right field for his ninth homer of the season.
Worley (3-1) picked up his first win since May 4. He allowed one run on five hits and struck out five in the longest outing of his career.
Rookie Michael Stutes retired the side in order in the eighth and Antonio Bastardo did the same in the ninth for his third save of the season.
Lackey ripped an RBI double in the fifth as Boston has dropped six of seven since winning 14 of 16.
Cardinals 5, Orioles 1
Colby Rasmus homered for the second straight night and Chris Carpenter pitched his second complete game as the visiting St. Louis Cardinals clinched a series win with a 5-1 triumph over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday.
Skip Schumaker drove in a run and scored a pair and David Freese added an RBI for the Cardinals, who have won back-to-back games for the first time in over a week.
Rasmus got St. Louis on the board in the second inning, taking a 2-1 pitch from Chris Jakubauskas (2-1) and launching it over the right field wall.
Rasmus has homered three times in the last five games, giving him eight on the season.
That was plenty of support for Carpenter (3-7), who allowed one run on seven hits while striking out five. The former Cy Young winner has won two straight starts after going 0-5 in his previous seven trips to the mound.
Nick Markakis drove in the lone run for Baltimore, which has dropped five of its last seven.
Cubs 2, Giants 1
The Giants' Tim Lincecum and the Cubs' Ryan Dempster hooked up in a classic duel Wednesday night at Wrigley Field, but neither figured in the decision as the Cubs won 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth inning on Aramis Ramirez's two-out pinch single to score Tony Campana from third base.
The loss ended the Giants' seven-game winning streak.
Chicago broke a scoreless tie in the seventh inning on an RBI single by Blake DeWitt. Carlos Pena led off the inning with a double to right field, and DeWitt followed with a line single.
Lincecum worked seven innings, giving up five hits and the one run. He walked two and struck out five, throwing 113 pitches.
Dempster worked eight innings, giving up three hits. He exited after Pat Burrell led off the ninth with a pinch double. Cubs closer Carlos Marmol blew the save by allowing a game-tying single to Emmanuel Burriss, driving in pinch runner Bill Hall.
The Giants mounted their only real threats against Dempster early in the game.
Pablo Sandoval doubled with two outs in the first inning, but Aubrey Huff grounded out to end the inning.
In the second, Nate Schierholtz doubled with one out, but Dempster got Miguel Tejada on a popout and Chris Stewart on a comeback grounder.
Lincecum may not have been as sharp as Dempster, but he was solid. He gave up a two-out double to Alfonso Soriano in the second but retired Reed Johnson on a called third strike. DeWitt led off the Chicago fifth with a double before Lincecum struck out Soriano and Johnson. The Giants walked No. 8 hitter Geovany Soto intentionally, and Lincecum struck out Dempster to end the inning.
The Giants were able to minimize the damage in the seventh. After Pena doubled and came home on DeWitt's double, DeWitt was thrown out at third base trying to advance on Johnson's grounder to Tejada at short. Soto walked, and Lincecum again struck out Dempster to end an inning.
Rangers 3, Astros 2
Ian Kinsler homered twice and Colby Lewis battled through 6 2/3 innings as the visiting Texas Rangers clinched the season series with a 3-2 victory over the Houston Astros on Wednesday.
Adrian Beltre added an RBI single and Andres Blanco had two hits for the Rangers, who have taken four of five from their instate rivals this season.
Houston was in a hole from the start on Wednesday as Kinsler led off the game by belting a 2-2 hanging changeup from Brett Myers into the left field seats. Kinsler, who also homered in the ninth inning Tuesday, made it three homers in as many at-bats when he took Myers (3-7) out to left again to lead off the third.
Lewis (7-7) took a two-hit shutout into the seventh before he yielded a solo homer to Carlos Lee and an RBI single to Clint Barmes to make it 3-2. Darren Oliver came on to record the final out of the seventh and combined with Mark Lowe on a scoreless eighth.
Neftali Feliz worked the ninth for his 16th save.
The Astros have dropped five straight and eight of nine.
Mets 16, Tigers 9
The New York Mets continued a record-setting offensive outburst Wednesday, pounding a season-high 20 hits in a 16-9 win over the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.
The Mets have scored eight or more runs in four consecutive games, matching the longest such streak in franchise history. Their 52 runs during that four-game stretch are also a franchise record. New York has 30 runs and 38 hits through the first two games of this series.
A night after hitting three home runs _ two of them grand slams _ in a 14-3 victory, the Mets did all their damage without going deep Wednesday. Angel Pagan had four hits and four RBIs, Scott Hairston had a three-run triple in the first and Daniel Murphy drove in four runs with a pair of bases-loaded singles.
Tigers starter Phil Coke (1-8) allowed eight runs - seven earned - over four innings to remain winless in 12 starts since April 14.
Detroit's Miguel Cabrera hit two home runs _ his 16th and 17th of the season _ and drove in four runs. Andy Dirks, Jhonny Peralta and Ryan Raburn also hit home runs for the Tigers.
Mets starter Chris Capuano (7-7) earned his fourth win in his last five starts despite surrendering three home runs.
The Tigers fell into a first-place tie in the American League Central with the Cleveland Indians, who defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks earlier in the day.
The Mets have won six of seven and are two games above .500 for the first time since starting the season 3-1.
White Sox 3, Rockies 2
A.J. Pierzynski's sacrifice fly in the ninth inning scored Carlos Quentin to lift the visiting Chicago White Sox to a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night.
The Rockies wasted a chance to get back to .500 after winning the series opener 3-2 in 13 innings Tuesday.
Colorado trailed 2-0 before Jason Giambi and Ty Wiggington bashed solo homers in the sixth and seventh innings.
Colorado's Ubaldo Jimenez and Chicago's Mark Buehrle each went seven strong innings, though Buehrle failed to improve on his major league-best interleague record of 24-6.
Sergio Santos struck out the final two batters to earn his 16th save with a perfect ninth.
Chicago's Paul Konerko, who was mired in a 3-for-20 slump, went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI, including a single in the ninth that advanced Quentin to third. Pierzynski also had an RBI double.
Marlins 3, Athletics 0
Ricky Nolasco pitched a five-hitter and Hanley Ramirez ended a long homerless drought as the Florida Marlins stopped the Oakland Athletics six-game home winning streak 3-0 on Wednesday.
Nolasco (5-4) was 0-4 with a 7.29 ERA in six starts since his last win on May 24, but he dominated the Athletics for his second career shutout and first since 2008.
Florida picked up its fourth win in its last 27 games and improved to 3-5 under 80-year-old interim manager Jack McKeon.
Nolasco got a big lift from the slumping Ramirez before he even threw a pitch.
Ramirez, off to the worst start of his career, belted a two-run homer off Guillermo Moscoso (2-4) in the first. He crushed a 2-1 breaking ball just right of the 400-foot sign in center field. It was only his fifth homer of the season and first in 60 at-bats dating to May 21.
Florida added to its lead in the fourth as Logan Morrison broke out of a 3-for-27 slide with his first homer in 44 at bats - a majestic solo shot to right field.