Brewers make their move

Milwaukee shares top spot in NL Central

Pinch hitter Greg Dobbs follows the flight of his three-run home run. (tim shaffer/Reuters)

Ryan Braun homered and drove in four runs, Bill Hall hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth inning, and the Brewers grabbed a share of the NL Central lead with a 6-4 victory over the Houston Astros last night in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee has won nine of 10 to move into a tie with the Chicago Cubs.

Eric Gagné (4-2) pitched a perfect eighth to get the win, and Salomon Torres got three outs for his 20th save.

The Brewers tied it with two runs in the seventh and went in front in the eighth. Corey Hart hit Doug Brocail's first pitch of the eighth for a double and Hall followed with a bloop single to right-center.

Hall went to second on a balk by Brocail (4-5), and later scored on a groundout by Jason Kendall to make it 6-4.

Braun tied it at four with a line-drive, two-run homer in the seventh. It was Braun's 27th of the season and third in his last four games.

Rays 5, Royals 3 - Carl Crawford's tiebreaking, two-run triple with two outs in the eighth inning helped visiting Tampa Bay beat Kansas City and extend its AL East lead to two games over the Red Sox.

Crawford, who had his seventh career two-triple game and second of the season, drove Horacio Ramirez's pitch to right-center, scoring Akinori Iwamura and B.J. Upton to give the Rays a 4-2 lead.

Phillies 10, Braves 9 - Pinch hitter Greg Dobbs delivered a three-run homer in a seven-run fifth inning as host Philadelphia rallied past Atlanta to spoil Mike Hampton's return to the major leagues.

Making his first appearance since Aug. 19, 2005, Hampton couldn't protect a 9-3 lead. The two-time All-Star overcame two major operations on his left elbow and an assortment of other injuries to finally make it back. He gave up six runs and eight hits in four-plus innings.

Mark Teixeira hit a three-run homer during Atlanta's nine-run fourth inning, but the Braves lost their 25th straight one-run game on the road.

Cardinals 10, Mets 8 - Albert Pujols hit a two-run homer in the 14th inning for his fifth hit of the night as St. Louis won in New York to snap a season-worst five-game losing streak.

Skip Schumaker singled for his sixth hit of the night with one out in the 14th against a tiring Aaron Heilman (1-4). Ryan Ludwick struck out before Pujols hit a 2-and-0 pitch into the left field bleachers.

Struggling Cardinals closer Ryan Franklin blew his second straight save, surrendering a leadoff homer to Fernando Tatis in the ninth inning.

Diamondbacks 5, Giants 3 - Brandon Webb struck out eight to pass 1,000 for his career and outpitched Tim Lincecum in a matchup of All-Star righthanders, and Arizona scored three in the eighth to win in San Francisco.

Webb (14-4) allowed three runs and four hits in seven innings, winning his third straight decision to become the second pitcher in the majors with 14 victories.

Lincecum had a career-high 13 strikeouts in seven innings, and left with a 3-2 lead.

Twins 11, Indians 4 - Brian Buscher hit a three-run homer and had a career-high five RBIs to help Minnesota end a five-game losing streak with a rout in Cleveland.

Fausto Carmona's return to Cleveland's rotation was a rocky one. The righthander, who missed two months with a strained left hip, allowed nine runs in 2 1/3 innings, including six in the first.

Rangers 9, Athletics 4 - Josh Hamilton hit a three-run homer to increase his major league-leading RBI total to 103, and visiting Texas beat up on Oakland All-Star Justin Duchscherer.

Chris Davis's homer to start the seventh was the first of four straight hits off Duchscherer, and Michael Young's RBI single chased the righthander.

Angels 11, Orioles 6 - Torii Hunter homered twice, had five RBIs, and scored four runs to carry Los Angeles over Baltimore at Camden Yards.

Hunter went 3 for 3 with two walks. He hit a two-run single in the first inning, a solo homer in third and a two-run shot in the ninth.

Padres 9, Pirates 6 - Adrian Gonzalez hit two of San Diego's four home runs and drove in four runs as the Padres built an eight-run lead en route to victory in Pittsburgh.

Blue Jays 8, Mariners 3 - Alex Rios homered twice and David Purcey earned his first major league win as host Toronto handed Seattle its seventh consecutive loss.

Dodgers 6, Nationals 0 - Derek Lowe allowed one hit over eight innings and Matt Kemp and Nomar Garciaparra homered to lead Los Angeles over visiting Washington.

Rockies 5, Reds 1 - Colorado piled up 15 hits in less than five innings off Homer Bailey, an offensive splurge that sent Jorge De La Rosa to victory in Cincinnati.

Marlins 3, Cubs 2 - Jeremy Hermida hit two homers and scored the decisive run on Jorge Cantu's 12th-inning double to lead visiting Florida over Chicago.

White Sox 7, Tigers 6 - Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye hit back-to-back homers and drove in two runs each and Chicago held off host Detroit.