Halladay cruises as Phillies win, 6-0, after firing hitting coach

The Phillies fired their hitting coach Friday, then got a masterful performance from ace Roy Halladay in a 6-0 win over visiting Colorado.

Halladay (11-8) struck out nine, walked one and allowed five hits in eight innings. East Hampton's Ross Gload hit a two-run homer, one of Philly's 12 hits. Before the game, manager Charlie Manuel dismissed hitting coach Milt Thompson and replaced him with Greg Gross. The Phils rank just 12th in the NL in batting (.254) and on-base percentage (.322) and sixth in runs.

Gross has been with Triple-A Lehigh Valley for the past three seasons and Double-A Reading before that. He was the hitting coach for former Phillies manager Larry Bowa from 2002-04 and played for World Series teams with Philadelphia in 1980 and 1983.

"I looked at our hitting and thought something had to be done," said Manuel, a former hitting coach with the Indians. " . . . He's a good friend of mine, but at the same time, I felt we had to try something."

Thompson had been Philadelphia's hitting coach since 2005.

Marlins 7, Braves 6

Donnie Murphy delivered his second game-ending hit of the week with a two-out single in the ninth for host Florida. Billy Wagner (5-1) took the loss after Brian McCann's RBI single in the top of the ninth tied the game for Atlanta.

Cubs 5, Cardinals 0

Alfonso Soriano, Tyler Colvin and Geovany Soto homered and Randy Wells (5-7) pitched seven shutout innings to lead host Chicago.

Indians 3, Rays 1

Fausto Carmona (10-7) allowed one hit - an infield single - in five dominant innings as Cleveland extended its home winning streak over Tampa Bay to 18 straight in a game called in the bottom of the seventh. The Rays haven't won in Cleveland since Sept. 28, 2005, when Lou Piniella was their manager and they still had a devilish nickname.

Orioles 3, Twins 2

Jeremy Guthrie allowed two runs in seven innings to earn his first win since May 25 and Luke Scott homered for host Baltimore. The O's Ty Wigginton received a three-game suspension and a fine for bumping an umpire during an argument Thursday night. He appealed the ruling and went 1-for-4.

- AP