Cardinals do their best to move on

A day after the death of Josh Hancock in an SUV accident, the St. Louis Cardinals tried to move on. They had a game to play.

But for Scott Spiezio, it was too much to handle. He told manager Tony La Russa to pull him from the starting lineup last night in Milwaukee.

With Hancock's jersey hanging in the bullpen and Milwaukee fans observing a moment of silence, the Cardinals went back to work, trying to focus on the task at hand.

"I got a little caught up right before gametime," Spiezio said. "Seeing the patch, seeing the jersey. It's hard to escape, you know? Usually, you've got stuff going on and when you get to the park, you can escape it. Here, you can't."

The Cardinals lost to the Brewers, 7-1, struggling at the plate and in the field.

Kip Wells (1-5) balked in a run in the second inning and gave up seven runs in six innings to take the loss. Adam Kennedy was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double in the fourth, and shortstop David Eckstein was left holding the ball with nowhere to throw as a second run crossed the plate after a triple by Milwaukee's Kevin Mench in the sixth.

But former Cardinals pitcher and Hancock teammate Jeff Suppan (4-2) was stellar for Milwaukee, giving up only one run and eight hits in his 16th career complete game.

The Cardinals will wear patches with Hancock's No. 32 on their sleeves for the rest of the season.

The 29-year-old Hancock was killed shortly after midnight Sunday when his SUV struck the rear of a flatbed tow truck on a St. Louis highway. The Cardinals' scheduled home game against Chicago Sunday night was postponed.

Braves 5, Phillies 2 -- Tim Hudson honored Hancock, his college teammate, with another strong outing and Andruw Jones won it for host Atlanta with a three-run homer in the ninth.

Pitching with a "JH" on the front of his jersey, Hudson allowed only four hits in eight innings though he didn't get a decision.

In the bottom of the ninth, Kelly Johnson led off with a single, Chipper Jones walked, and Andruw Jones hit a towering drive into the left-field seats off Antonio Alfonseca (1-1).

Chipper Jones also homered for the Braves.

Hudson and Hancock played together at Auburn in 1997, when Hudson was the Southeastern Conference player of the year and Hancock was a freshman. Together, they helped lead the Tigers to the College World Series.

While Hudson failed to improve to 4-0 for the first time in his career, he has clearly regained the form that made him one of baseball's top starters in Oakland. He struggled last season for the Braves, going 13-12 with a career-worst 4.86 ERA.

Diamondbacks 9, Dodgers 1 -- Brandon Webb gave up one run over seven innings, Chris Young hit a pair of solo homers, and visiting Arizona posted its sixth straight victory.

Giants 9, Rockies 5 -- San Francisco's Pedro Feliz hit a three-run homer and Noah Lowry beat visiting Colorado for the first time in more than two years. Barry Bonds walked three times, twice intentionally, and Omar Vizquel had two hits, an RBI, and scored.

Pirates 3, Cubs 2 -- Jason Bay's one-out homer in the eighth was the winning run for host Pittsburgh.

Bay's homer, an opposite-field shot off Michael Wuertz (0-1) that barely reached the right-field bleachers, was his fourth of the season and his 100th with the Pirates.

Bay is the 20th player in club history to hit that many.

Marlins 9, Mets 6 -- Hanley Ramirez homered, Miguel Cabrera drove in two runs, and visiting Florida chased emergency starter Chan Ho Park early.

Park was recalled from Triple A New Orleans to start in place of the injured Orlando Hernandez. The righthander lasted only four innings, allowing seven runs and six hits.

Nationals 3, Padres 2 -- John Patterson surrendered one run in six innings to outpitch Jake Peavy and get his first win in more than a year, leading visiting Washington.

Austin Kearns and Kory Casto each drove in runs against Peavy (3-1), who was coming off a 16-strikeout performance in his last outing, a no-decision at Arizona last Wednesday.

Tigers 8, Orioles 4 -- Gary Sheffield homered off Daniel Cabrera two innings after the Baltimore starter hit him with a pitch, leading host Detroit.

Cabrera hit Sheffield in the third inning, and the pair had to be pulled apart during a bench-clearing incident in the fifth before Sheffield got the last word with a homer estimated at 408 feet. Sheffield watched the drive sail into the left-field stands from home plate before he slowly trotted around the bases.

Detroit righthander Jeremy Bonderman (1-0) picked up his first decision of the season in his sixth start, allowing four runs and nine hits with a walk in five-plus innings.

Blue Jays 6, Rangers 1 -- Roy Halladay threw a five-hitter and Aaron Hill hit a two-run homer as host Toronto beat Texas.

Troy Glaus and rookie Adam Lind also homered for the Blue Jays, who secured their third straight winning April (13-12) with the victory.

Angels 3, Royals 1 -- Vladimir Guerrero doubled home two runs in the first inning and John Lackey pitched into the seventh to lead visiting Los Angeles.

Reggie Willits and Orlando Cabrera hit one-out singles off Odalis Perez (2-3) and Guerrero, who has 23 RBIs in 24 games, doubled high off the wall in straightaway center, missing a homer by about 18 inches.