ATLANTA — Adam LaRoche hit three doubles and a triple and drove in three runs to lead Atlanta past the San Francisco Giants 5-3 on Wednesday night.
Chuck James (7-3) held the Giants to six hits in seven innings for his third straight win. He kept Barry Bonds from doing any damage by hitting the 42-year-old slugger in the back with a pitch and walking him twice.
Eight-time Gold Glover Andruw Jones came up with a huge defensive play in the eighth, leaping against the center-field wall to rob Ray Durham of a two-run homer.
Bob Wickman pitched the ninth for his 10th save in as many chances since being acquired from Cleveland, even though he gave up a leadoff homer to Eliezer Alfonzo.
PIRATES 10, CUBS 9 (11): At Pittsburgh, Freddy Sanchez's second two-run single of the game finished off Pittsburgh's three-run rally in the 11th inning, and the Pirates withstood 20 hits to beat Chicago.
Michael Barrett's run-scoring single and Ronny Cedeno's sacrifice fly off Marty McLeary (1-0) had put the Cubs up 9-7 in the top of the inning.
DODGERS 7, REDS 3: At Los Angeles, Greg Maddux earned his 330th win to move into 10th place on the career list, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-3 Wednesday night for their fifth straight victory.
The Dodgers improved to 21-7 in August, matching their highest single-month victory total since the franchise moved west from Brooklyn in 1958.
PADRES 4, DIAMONDBACKS 1: At Phoenix, Mike Piazza drove in two runs with a pair of bloop singles, and Mike Thompson earned his first victory in more than two months.
The Padres took two of three from the Diamondbacks and maintained their wild-card lead.
PHILLIES 5, NATIONALS 1: At Washington, Cole Hamels pitched eight strong innings and Ryan Howard hit a two-run double to lead Philadelphia.
The surging Phillies, who began the day just a half-game behind NL wild-card leader San Diego, won for the eighth time in 11 games.
METS 11, ROCKIES 3: At Denver, David Wright hit a grand slam and drove in a season-high five runs, and Jose Valentin homered twice as the New York Mets routed the Rockies 11-3 to give them the best record in baseball.
Carlos Delgado added his 34th home run for the Mets, who won for the 11th time in 12 games.
ASTROS 1, BREWERS 0: At Houston, Roger Clemens struck out nine in seven shutout innings and Mike Lamb scored on a strange play in the ninth to give the Astros a win .
The Astros won their season-high fifth straight by salvaging another solid outing from Clemens.
CARDINALS 13, MARLINS 6: At St. Louis, Albert Pujols hit a tiebreaking home run in the fifth inning and Preston Wilson had three RBIs, helping the Cardinals end the Marlins' nine-game winning strea.
Hanley Ramirez had three hits and Mike Jacobs had two RBIs for the Marlins.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
YANKEES 2-3, TIGERS 0-5: At New York, Craig Monroe hit a three-run homer off Scott Proctor with two outs in the ninth inning, and the Detroit Tigers avoided a doubleheader sweep by rallying past the New York Yankees 5-3.
Chien-Ming Wang tied Toronto's Roy Halladay for the major league lead with his 16th win in the day game, combining on a four-hitter in a 2-0 Yankees victory.
New York led 3-2 in the nightcap when Proctor (5-4), trying for his first career save, walked Brandon Inge with one out in the ninth and Curtis Granderson with two outs. Monroe followed with his 23rd homer of the season, a drive to left-center.
INDIANS 3, BLUE JAYS 2 (10): At Cleveland, Jhonny Peralta hit a two-out homer off closer B.J. Ryan in the 10th inning Wednesday night to give the Cleveland Indians a three-game sweep of the Blue Jays.
Travis Hafner's second homer of the game and 42nd of the season for Cleveland tied it at 2 in the eighth against Jeremy Accardo.
ROYALS 4, TWINS 3: At Minneapolis, Luke Hudson threw seven strong innings, Ryan Shealy hit a go-ahead RBI single in the sixth inning and the Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins for the second straight night.
Minnesota, which has lost three in a row overall, entered the night a half-game behind Chicago in the wild-card standings.
ANGELS 5, MARINERS 3: At Seattle, Garret Anderson homered and Howie Kendrick drove in two runs, helping the Los Angeles Angels snapped the Mariners' season-best six-game winning streak.
Vladimir Guerrero went 2-for-4 a night after lining a pitch off the head of Seattle starter Rafael Soriano.
ATHLETICS 7, RED SOX 2: At Oakland, Barry Zito outpitched Curt Schilling on a day the Boston ace became the 14th pitcher with 3,000 career strikeouts, Mark Ellis and Bobby Kielty each hit solo home runs and Oakland beat the Red Sox to complete a three-game sweep.
Jason Kendall doubled among his three hits, drove in a run, and scored twice for the A's, who won their season-best ninth straight game at home.
WHITE SOX 5, DEVIL RAYS 4: At Chicago, Tadahito Iguchi tied it with a two-out, two-run homer, and Jim Thome celebrated his return to the lineup with a go-ahead single.
Jon Garland (16-4) tied for the major league lead in victories, overcoming a rough start when he gave up three first-inning runs.
ORIOLES 7, RANGERS 4 (10): At Arlington, Texas, Jay Gibbons hit a go-ahead RBI double to spark Baltimore's three-run 10th inning, and Miguel Tejada had four hits as the Orioles beat the Texas Rangers.