>>Cards Crush Pirates
(Pittsburgh, PA) -- Allen Craig clubbed a pair of home runs to back seven solid innings from Kyle Lohse as the Cardinals cruised to a 7-2 win over the Pirates. Lohse struck out seven, while giving up a pair of runs to improve to 11-and-7 on the season. Craig crushed a two-run shot in the first, a solo dinger in the seventh and added an RBI single in the eighth for St. Louis, which snapped a two-game slide to salvage the finale of a three-game set at PNC Park. The Cardinals are off today before opening a three-game set at Chicago tomorrow afternoon.
>>Astros Edge Cubs In Rubber Match
(Houston, TX) -- Matt Downs singled in two runs in the fourth inning to give the Astros the lead for good as they hung on for a 4-3 victory over the Cubs on Wednesday afternoon at Minute Maid Park. Brian Bogusevic doubled in two in the third inning to tie the game at two for Houston, which took the final two games of the three-game NL Central set. Bud Norris pitched five innings of three-run ball for the win and Mark Melancon got the final three outs for his 12th save. Casey Coleman took the loss. Aramis Ramirez hit a two-run homer in the third and Geovany Soto smacked a solo shot in the fourth for Chicago. The Northsiders are off today. They return to the Friendly Confines tomorrow afternoon to open up a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals. Randy Wells gets the nod against Jaime Garcia in the opener.
>>Tribe Trumps ChiSox
(Chicago, IL) -- Four different players plated a run to back eight-and-a-third stellar innings from Fausto Carmona as the Indians cruised to a 4-1 win over the White Sox on Wednesday night at The Cell. Carmona struck out six and allowed just one run on four hits to improve to 6-and-12 on the season and Chris Perez recorded the final two outs to pick up his 26th save. Jack Hannahan, Kosuke Fukudome, Shin-Soo Choo and Asdrubal Cabrera each knocked in a run for Cleveland, which has won three of its last four games. Alexei Ramirez' solo home run in the second frame accounted for Chicago's lone run of the game. Mark Buehrle was tagged with the loss. The Southsiders had won three straight. Philip Humber will toe the rubber opposite Justin Masterson in tonight's series finale.
MLB NL
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Houston Astros 4, Chicago Cubs 3
New York Mets 7, San Diego Padres 3
Cincinnati Reds 2, Washington Nationals 1
St. Louis Cardinals 7, Pittsburgh Pirates 2
Philadelphia Phillies 9, Arizona Diamondbacks 2
San Francisco Giants 7, Atlanta Braves 5
Milwaukee Brewers 3, Los Angeles Dodgers 1
Colorado Rockies 12, Florida Marlins 5
MLB AL
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Tampa Bay Rays 4, Boston Red Sox 0
Oakland Athletics 6, Baltimore Orioles 5
Minnesota Twins 6, Detroit Tigers 5
Cleveland Indians 4, Chicago White Sox 1
Kansas City Royals 5, New York Yankees 4
Texas Rangers 4, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 1
Toronto Blue Jays 5, Seattle Mariners 1
