Baseball roundup: Victorino homers to lead Dodgers
Shane Victorino hit his 10th homer of the season and drove in three runs to lift the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 5-4 victory over the Pirates in Pittsburgh Monday night.
Matt Kemp added two hits for the Dodgers, who moved within 11/2 games of the Pirates for one of the two National League wild-card spots.
"He's been through it -- playoff runs the last three or four years, World Series," said Los Angeles manager Don Mattingly of Victorino's time with the Phillies before being traded. "They just get hardened, and this is not going to overwhelm him down the stretch."
"I just keep plugging along," said Victorino, who hit his first home run for the Dodgers. "There's nothing different that I've done. You know when you've got confidence and you feel good at the plate, yeah, things kind of keep going that way."
Phillies 4, Marlins 0: Cole Hamels (13-6) pitched a complete-game seven-hitter in his second straight shutout. Juan Pierre had three hits for visiting Philadelphia.
Padres 4, Braves 1: Eric Stults combined with two relievers on a five-hitter and Chase Headley homered and drove in two runs for visiting San Diego. Stults (3-2) gave up five hits and one run in 72/3 innings for the Padres, winners of eight of 10.
Cubs 7, Astros 1: Jeff Samardzija struck out a career high-tying 11 in seven innings for host Chicago. Alfonso Soriano hit a two-run homer and Anthony Rizzo had four hits for the Cubs.
Rockies 9, Brewers 6: DJ LeMahieu had a career-best four hits and Jeff Francis pitched effectively into the sixth inning for the Rockies in Denver.
Blue Jays 3, White Sox 2: David Cooper's single to shallow right in the bottom of the 11th drove in the winning run for host Toronto. Moises Sierra homered for the Blue Jays. Adam Dunn hit two home runs for Chicago and has 33 homers and 78 RBIs.
Twins 9, Tigers 3: Darin Mastroianni and Ryan Doumit each homered and drove in three runs as host Minnesota snapped a four-game losing streak.-- AP
