Updated Friday, July 4, 2008 0:00 am TWN, AP Howard hits 3-run homer as Phillies beat the Braves, 7-3The Phillies improved to 5-0 in Atlanta this season and 7-1 overall in the season series. The Braves (40-45) fell a season-worst five games under .500 with their second straight loss in the series, despite homers from Chipper Jones and Ruben Gotay. Jones, playing his second game after missing eight straight starts with a strained right quadriceps, hit his 17th homer off J.C. Romero in the eighth, cutting the Phillies’ lead to 5-3. The Phillies answered with two runs in the ninth on Jimmy Rollins’ RBI triple and Chase Utley’s run-scoring single. Marlins 4, Nationals 2 At Miami, Alfredo Amezaga hit a go-ahead, two-run home run in seventh inning to lead Florida past Washington when play resumed after a 1 1/2-hour rain delay. Florida trailed 2-1 when the game was halted with one and two outs in the seventh for 1 hour, 35 minutes. Charlie Manning (0-2) relieved starter Odalis Perez after the delay, and Amezaga hit his second home run of the season and 11th in 1,106 career at-bats. Wes Helms added a sacrifice fly in the eighth. Pirates 9, Reds 5 At Cincinnati, Xavier Nady homered twice and drove in four runs to lead Pittsburgh, which lost another pitcher to injury. Closer Matt Capps will be gone for about eight weeks after a medical test detected bursitis and tightness in his pitching shoulder. Capps is the fourth Pittsburgh pitcher to wind up on the disabled list in the last two weeks. The rest of the bullpen came through, helping the Pirates win consecutive road games for only the second time this season. Dodgers 4, Astros 1 At Houston, Hiroki Kuroda threw seven shutout innings after coming off the disabled list, and Jeff Kent had two RBI-doubles as Los Angeles downed Houston. Kuroda (4-6) allowed five hits in his first start since going on the disabled list on June 18 with tendinitis in his right shoulder. Andre Ethier hit a solo homer and Blake DeWitt scored on Luis Maza’s squeeze bunt for the Dodgers, who have won five of their last six road games. Carlos Lee homered in the ninth off Cory Wade for Houston’s only run. Wade relieved Kuroda in the eighth and retired the other six batters he faced. Rockies 8, Padres 1 At Denver, Garrett Atkins, Troy Tulowitzki and Yorvit Torrealba homered to lead Colorado past San Diego. Atkins drove in four runs and Ubaldo Jimenez pitched into the seventh inning for his second win in his last three starts. Atkins singled in a run in the first and followed Matt Holliday’s RBI single in the third with a three-run drive, his 11th of the year. Tulowitzki added a two-run homer in the third, his third of the year. Cubs 6, Giants 5 At San Francisco, Mike Fontenot hit a tie-breaking home run in the eighth inning for Chicago. Jim Edmonds homered for the Cubs, who have scored 16 runs in the first three games of this four-game series after being held to nine runs while getting swept by the Chicago White Sox over the weekend. Carlos Marmol (2-3) picked up the win despite giving up a tying three-run homer to Ray Durham in the seventh. Kerry Wood worked the ninth for his 21st save. | ![]() San Diego Padres’ Michael Barrett, center, is helped by an unidentified trainer, left, and manager Bud Black after Barrett was hit in the bridge of the nose by a foul tip in the third inning of a Major League Baseball game against the Colorado Rockies in Denver on Wednesday.(AP) Enlarge Photo Baseball Breaking News Most Read |