Sports > Willis, Hudson Use Bats for Big Wins

Top National League Pitchers Dontrelle Willis, Tim Hudson Show Their Stuff at the Plate

Atlanta Braves starter Tim Hudson delivers to the Cincinnati Reds during the first inning, Friday, Sept. 2, 2005, at Turner Field in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gregory Smith)

"He's the complete package," Marlins manager Jack McKeon said. "He plays the game the way it's supposed to be played. There's a lot of kid in him."

Tim Hudson also had a big night with his bat and arm. He won his fourth straight start and drove in two runs with his first career triple, leading the Braves past the Cincinnati Reds 7-4 in Atlanta.

The right-hander took some good-natured ribbing from teammates about his triple that highlighted a six-run fourth inning, and he joined in with a joke of his own.

"I didn't know if I should turn right or left coming into second," Hudson said.

In other NL games, it was: Chicago 7, Pittsburgh 3; Philadelphia 7, Washington 1; Milwaukee 12, San Diego 2; Houston 6, St. Louis 5 in 13 innings; Colorado 11, Los Angeles 3; and San Francisco 6, Arizona 3.

Hudson (12-7) earned the victory despite matching his career high with 12 hits allowed in 6 1-3 innings. Coming off consecutive complete games, he gave up four runs but improved to 5-2 since the end of June.

Austin Kearns had a three-run homer for Cincinnati. Ken Griffey Jr. added his 34th homer.

Griffey's shot was the 535th of his career and his 2,300th hit. He moved past Jimmie Foxx for sole possession of 13th place on the all-time home run list.

Kyle Farnsworth got four outs for his ninth save.

Eric Milton (7-13) gave up seven runs, six earned, in 3 1-3 innings. The Reds have lost four in a row.

Thanks to the big inning and some spectacular defense, the Braves maintained their four-game lead in the NL East.

"They pitch it and they catch it. If you can pitch and play defense, you can play for Bobby Cox. They give you 27 outs, and that's it," Cincinnati's Sean Casey said.

At Miami, Willis (19-8) set a Marlins record for wins in a season. He had shared the mark with Carl Pavano, who went 18-8 last year. The left-hander won his fourth consecutive start and tied St. Louis' Chris Carpenter for the major league lead in victories.

"I never thought I'd be in a situation like this to get that many wins in a single season," Willis said. "I'm definitely rolling with it."

David Wright's RBI single chased Willis with one out in the ninth, but Todd Jones finished for his 33rd save in 35 tries.

Willis went 2-for-4 at the plate, including a double in the Marlins' two-run sixth. He scored their final run, racing home from third on a grounder and beating the throw with a headfirst slide.

"That was the first instinct I had to slide," said Willis, who is batting .243 and has 18 hits, a club record for pitchers. "I figured the quickest way I could get to the plate was to reach out as far as I can. I just said, 'I'm going to give up my body.' It's all about putting pressure on the other guys."

His gem came at the start of a key series between NL wild-card contenders. Florida remained 1 1/2 games behind wild-card leader Philadelphia, while New York fell 3 1/2 games back.

Victor Zambrano (7-11) allowed 12 hits and four runs in five-plus innings. The Mets have lost five of six.

Phillies 7, Nationals 1

David Bell hit the first grand slam of his career, and Vicente Padilla (8-12) threw six strong innings for Philadelphia.

The Nationals tied it 1-all in the second on Brad Wilkerson's RBI single, ending their home scoreless drought at 22 innings. Washington starter John Halama (0-2) gave up six runs and seven hits in three innings.

Bell had never homered in 126 previous at-bats with the bases loaded the longest such drought among current players.

Astros 6, Cardinals 5, 13 innings

At Houston, Eric Bruntlett's RBI single with two outs in the 13th inning capped Houston's third rally since the ninth.

The Astros extended the game with homers in the ninth by Morgan Ensberg and 10th by Brad Ausmus against closer Jason Isringhausen. They won it by pushing two runs across in the 13th against three pitchers.

St. Louis took a 5-4 lead when Jim Edmonds led off the 13th with his second homer of the game.

Cubs 7, Pirates 3

Nomar Garciaparra and Michael Barrett homered in a three-run sixth inning for visiting Chicago, and Greg Maddux (11-11) got his 316th career win.

Brewers 12, Padres 2

At Milwaukee, Geoff Jenkins hit a grand slam to cap a seven-run second inning and Carlos Lee added his 30th homer to reach 100 RBIs.

Chris Capuano (15-9) gave up four hits in seven innings, snapping San Diego's three-game winning streak and becoming Milwaukee's first 15-game winner since Cal Eldred went 16-16 in 1993.

Brian Lawrence (7-14) got only five outs in the shortest start of his career.

Giants 6, Diamondbacks 3

Ray Durham homered and drove in four runs to back a solid outing by Jason Schmidt.

The visiting Giants won for the fifth time in six games to move past Arizona for third place in the NL West. San Francisco is 6 1/2 games behind first-place San Diego.

Schmidt (12-6) improved to 5-0 in his last six starts. He matched his season high by striking out 10.

Rockies 11, Dodgers 3

Todd Helton homered twice and drove in three runs, and Garrett Atkins added a three-run shot for host Colorado.

Sunny Kim (4-2) worked 5 1-3 innings for the win, allowing one run. Jose Acevedo pitched three innings for his first major league save.

Jeff Weaver (13-9) gave up six runs and eight hits in five innings, failing to get his career-best 14th win. Weaver had won six straight decisions and hadn't lost in 10 starts.

2005-09-03