PHILADELPHIA — Jimmy Rollins made a sliding stop with the bases loaded to start a game-ending double play, and the Philadelphia Phillies clinched their second consecutive NL East title by holding off the Washington Nationals 4-3 on Saturday.
Rollins went to his knees to snare Ryan Zimmerman's sharp grounder. He made a flip to second base with his glove and rejoiced when Chase Utley's relay throw completed the double play.
Brad Lidge barely escaped the ninth, getting help from Rollins at shortstop to earn his 41st save in 41 tries. Players rushed the field after Rollins' sensational play and everyone piled on near second base, beginning the party.
Jamie Moyer (16-7) allowed one run and six hits in six innings, matching Hall of Famer Phil Niekro for most wins by a pitcher 45 or older. Niekro, a knuckleballer, had 16 wins at 45 and 46 while pitching for the New York Yankees in 1984-85.
Nationals starter John Lannan (9-15) gave up three runs and seven hits in five innings.
METS 2, MARLINS 0: At New York, Johan Santana pitched a three-hitter on short rest, leading the Mets to a victory over Florida and a tie in the NL wild-card race. Santana (16-7) gave the Mets just their third win in eight games and, coupled with the Brewers' loss to the Cubs, a chance to reach the postseason. New York and Milwaukee are tied for the wild card, though the Mets were eliminated from the NL East when the Phillies won. Santana had never gone only three days between regular-season starts — he did it once during the 2004 AL playoffs. He needed a career-high 125 pitches in his last outing, and he threw 117 in keeping the Mets' shaky relievers in the bullpen. Ricky Nolasco (15-8) nearly matched Santana, striking out 10 in seven innings.
CUBS 7, BREWERS 3: At Milwaukee, Ben Sheets was roughed up in his return from an injury, and the Brewers fell back into a tie with the Mets for the NL wild card with one game left in the season. Sheets (13-9) tried to put aside nagging elbow soreness to make his first start since Sept. 17, but gave up four runs in only 2 1/3 innings against the Cubs. Milwaukee's lineup couldn't manage much of anything against Ted Lilly (17-9), who held the Brewers hitless until Ryan Braun led off the seventh with a double. Now the Brewers go into the final game of the season tied with the New York Mets for the wild card. Milwaukee's CC Sabathia is expected to face right-hander Angel Guzman.
DIAMONDBACKS 6, ROCKIES 4: At Phoenix, Stephen Drew's two-run single in the eighth inning off Manny Corpas (3-4) gave Arizona the win, but too late for Brandon Webb to earn his 23rd win. Webb hoped to solidify his bid for a second NL Cy Young Award, but could not hold a two-run lead that he gave himself with a two-run double in the fourth. The 2006 Cy Young winner allowed four runs and six hits in seven innings. He walked two, hit two and struck out seven. Brandon Lyon (3-5) pitched a scoreless eighth, and Chad Qualls got three outs in the ninth for his ninth save in 17 chances.
CARDINALS 8, REDS 5: At St. Louis, Albert Pujols hit his 37th home run and reached 100 runs for the seventh time in his first eight seasons in the Cardinals' victory. Todd Wellemeyer pitched into the seventh inning and Troy Glaus' two-run homer left him two RBIs shy of 100 for the Cardinals, who have won five straight. Felipe Lopez also homered for St. Louis, which has taken 11 of its last 13 at home against the Reds. Aaron Harang (6-17) allowed six runs — four earned — in five innings to end a late-season run of six quality starts in seven outings. Wellemeyer (13-9) ended a three-game losing streak and finished his first full season in the rotation on a positive note, allowing three runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings.
BRAVES 11, ASTROS 5: At Houston, Josh Anderson hit two home runs and Jeff Francoeur drove in three runs with a pair of doubles to lift Atlanta. The Braves jumped to a 9-0 lead after their first two at-bats and finished with 18 hits, tying the most allowed by the Astros this season. Reliever Vladimir Nunez (1-2) pitched 1 2/3 perfect innings, striking out one, to take the win. Brandon Backe (9-14) went 1 1/3 innings, the shortest outing of his career, and allowed eight runs and eight hits, including two home runs, both by Anderson. He leads the major leagues with 36 homers allowed.
PADRES 3, PIRATES 2: At San Diego, Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a two-run homer in the first inning and Chris Young pitched six strong innings to lead the Padres to the win. Trevor Hoffman pitched the ninth for his 30th save in 34 chances. It was the 13th time Hoffman saved at least 30 games, extending his own big league record to 554.
Young (7-6) held the Pirates to one run and five hits in six innings while striking out five and walking none. The 6-foot-10 right-hander improved to 4-0 lifetime against Pittsburgh.
DODGERS 2, GIANTS 1: At San Francisco, Blake DeWitt hit a solo homer and singled in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning to give Greg Maddux his 355th career victory. Maddux (8-13) allowed two hits and one run in six efficient innings, throwing 47 pitches for the NL West champions. The win moved Maddux past Roger Clemens into sole possession of eighth place on the career list.
Chad Billingsley, the Dodgers' Game 2 playoff starter, pitched two scoreless innings of relief and Takashi Saito worked the ninth for his 18th save in 21 opportunities.
Matt Cain (8-14) wound up winless in his final eight starts, going 0-5 during that span. He didn't win again after a 5-1 victory at Atlanta on Sept. 15. Cain was a 13-game winner in his rookie season of 2006 but has won only 15 games in the last two seasons.
American League
ROYALS 4, TWINS 2: At Minneapolis, the Minnesota Twins wasted another chance to take control in the AL Central. Ryan Shealy blooped a two-run single to give Kansas City the lead in the seventh inning, and the surging Royals handed the suddenly sputtering Twins a second straight defeat. The Twins remained in first by a half-game over Chicago, which lost to Cleveland. They can clinch the division title today with a win and a White Sox loss. But thanks to a bunch of missed chances by the batters and a letdown by the bullpen, Minnesota failed to follow through on another opportunity to open some breathing room. Gil Meche (14-11) pitched into the seventh, getting two innings to end on double plays. The Twins left 11 runners on base and grounded into two more against Royals relievers. After leaving the bases loaded by getting the last two outs of the sixth, reliever Matt Guerrier (6-9) gave up consecutive singles to start the seventh and Shealy's bloop over a diving Justin Morneau's head down the first-base line drove in two to make it 4-2 Royals.
INDIANS 12, WHITE SOX 6: At Chicago, Zach Jackson pitched seven strong innings, Asdrubal Cabrera hit a three-run double off struggling Javier Vazquez in a six-run fifth and Cleveland handed Chicago its fifth straight loss. The Indians built a 7-1 lead and put the game away with four runs in the ninth off Chicago's beleaguered bullpen. Jhonny Peralta and Victor Martinez had RBI singles, and pinch-hitter Franklin Gutierrez added a two-run single. Paul Konerko hit a pair of homers for the White Sox. Pitching on three days' rest, Vazquez (12-16) was hit hard for a third consecutive start and failed to make it out of the fifth. Jackson (2-3), acquired from Milwaukee in the CC Sabathia trade, allowed three hits, including solo homers by Jermaine Dye and Konerko. Chicago got a break before Saturday's game even started when Cleveland scratched 22-game winner Cliff Lee from his scheduled start Sunday because of a stiff neck. He'll be replaced by Bryan Bullington. If the margin between Minnesota and Chicago stays at a half-game after today, the White Sox will play Detroit on Monday in a makeup game at U.S. Cellular Field. Should the White Sox win that game and tie Minnesota, they would host the Twins on Tuesday in a one-game tiebreaker for the division title.
TIGERS 4, RAYS 3: At Detroit, Miguel Cabrera homered and Dontrelle Willis had his best outing of a lost season, helping Detroit beat the Rays in Tampa Bay's first game since clinching the AL East title. Gary Sheffield went 0-for-2 with two walks, leaving him with 499 homers. Sheffield will have one or two more chances at reaching 500 this season, depending on whether the Tigers have to go to Chicago for a makeup game on Monday. The game started about 18 hours after Tampa Bay celebrated its first division title, when the Yankees beat the Red Sox in a rain-delayed game that ended well after midnight. Aquilino Lopez (4-1) earned the win with 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief. Fernando Rodney pitched the ninth for his 13th save. Matt Garza toosed five innings for Tampa Bay. Jeff Niemann (2-2) took the loss.
ORIOLES 2, BLUE JAYS 1 (7): At Baltimore, the Orioles ended their 10-game losing streak, using a fine pitching performance by Brian Bass to beat Toronto in a game called early because of rain. Bass (4-4) allowed one run and three hits in six innings. The right-hander struck out three and walked none in earning his first win in four starts since coming to the Orioles in a trade with Minnesota on Sept. 5. Bass retired his final 13 batters; only two hit the ball out of the infield. Lyle Overbay snapped an 0-for-23 skid with a leadoff double off Lance Cormier in the seventh, but umpires summoned for the tarp after that and called the game after a delay of 1 hour, 30 minutes. John Parrish (1-1) allowed two runs and nine hits in five innings for the Blue Jays. Toronto was 5-0 in his five previous starts.
MARINERS 7, ATHLETICS 3: At Seattle, Kenji Johjima hit a three-run homer during a six-run first inning, and Seattle beat Oakland. Ryan Rowland-Smith (5-3) gave up three runs and nine hits in 6 2/3 innings for the Mariners. Sean Green allowed one hit over the final 2 1/3 innings for his first career save. The Mariners loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning. After Oakland starter Greg Smith walked in a run, Wladimir Balentien doubled to left-center field to score two runs. Johjima followed with his drive over the left-field wall to make it 6-0. Smith (7-16) didn't allow another hit after the first until Yuniesky Betancourt doubled in the fifth. Smith allowed five hits in seven innings.
RANGERS 8, ANGELS 4: At Anaheim, Calif., Josh Hamilton overtook Justin Morneau for the AL RBI lead, Nelson Cruz and Chris Davis hit consecutive home runs, and Texas set a major league single-season record for doubles.
In the first two games of this series, the Rangers have 18 runs and 22 hits against John Lackey and Ervin Santana, who are scheduled to start the first two games of the AL division series against Boston.
Scott Feldman (6-8) allowed two runs — one earned — and five hits in six innings while wrapping up his first season as a starter with a 5.29 ERA. Hamilton's two-run single during a four-run sixth that increased Texas' lead to 8-1. He has 130 RBIs, one more than Morneau. The last Rangers player to win an RBI title was Alex Rodriguez with 142 in 2002. Santana (16-7) was charged with eight runs and 10 hits in 5 2-3 innings and struck out five. He finished his regular-season slate with a 3.49 ERA and 214 strikeouts in 219 innings.