Tuesday’s National League Capsules

PHILADELPHIA(AP) —Placido Polanco(notes) hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning and Philadelphia beat Florida 8-7 on Tuesday night to move into first place in the NL East.
The Phillies moved a half-game ahead of football jersey
Atlanta, which lost 5-0 in Pittsburgh. The two-time defending NL champions hadn’t been in first place since May 30. They are seeking their fourth straight division title.
Ryan Howard(notes), Raul Ibanez(notes) and Shane Victorino(notes) hit solo homers for the Phillies, who were seven games behind the Braves on July 22.
After the Marlins rallied to tie it at 7 in the eighth, the Phillies answered with two outs in the bottom half. Victorino blooped a single to center off Jose Veras(notes) (2-2). He stole second and scored on Polanco’s liner to right.
Ryan Madson(notes) (5-2) got the last four outs to earn the win.
Mike Stanton(notes) homered for the third straight game for Florida.
Brewers 4, Cardinals 2=
MILWAUKEE (AP) - Trevor Hoffman(notes) added another milestone to his illustrious career, earning his 600th save by closing out Milwaukee’s win.
Four people were ejected by plate umpire Bob Davidson, including a fan, on a night that ended with Hoffman being carried off the field by his teammates.
The 42-year-old reliever, baseball’s career saves leader, lost his job as the Brewers’ closer in May after a string of bad outings. But he’s pitched better of late and has been getting ninth-inning work as the team tried to get him to No. 600.
The right-hander entered in the ninth and gave up a bloop single to Colby Rasmus(notes). Pinch-hitter Randy Winn(notes) grounded into a double play. Hoffman got pinch-hitter Aaron Miles(notes) to ground out and raised his arms in triumph as teammates rushed to mob him near the mound.
It was Hoffman’s ninth save in 14 chances this season, and 600th in 676 career chances.
Rockies 4, Reds 3=
DENVER (AP) - Carlos Gonzalez(notes) hit a three-run homer and Jhoulys Chacin(notes) pitched six strong innings in Colorado’s fifth consecutive win.
Gonzalez’s homer in the first inning was his 32nd of the season and gave him 100 RBIs. He’s in prime position to challenge for the NL Triple Crown, leading in average (.340), taking over the top spot in RBIs and vaulting into a third-place tie with Joey Votto(notes) and Mark Reynolds(notes) in homers.
Cincinnati dropped its third straight, but still maintained a six-game lead over St. Louis, which lost to Milwaukee 4-2.
Chacin (8-9) turned in his fourth straight outing in which he has surrendered two earned runs or less. The rookie right-hander allowed two runs and six hits, struck out five and walked one.
Huston Street(notes) worked the ninth for his 16th save.
Johnny Cueto(notes) (12-5) was with the Reds after missing a few days to attend a family emergency in the Dominican Republic. The righty lasted six innings, giving up four runs - three earned - and seven hits.
Padres 2, Dodgers 1=
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Mat Latos(notes) bounced back from stomach flu to strike out 10 for the third time in four starts for NL West-leading San Diego.
Latos held Los Angeles to four hits over seven innings. He set a major league record with his 15th straight start of five or more innings with two or fewer runs allowed. He had been tied with Greg Maddux(notes) (1993-94) and Mike Scott (1986) with 14.
Latos (14-5), who was scratched from his start Monday night due to stomach flu, lowered his major league-leading ERA from 2.25 to 2.21. His 10 strikeouts matched his career high, and his 113 pitches were a career high. He walked none.
Heath Bell(notes) got a five-out save, his 39th in 42 chances this year and his 26th straight.
It was the second straight win for the Padres following their 10-game losing streak. San Diego retained its one-game lead over San Francisco, which won 6-3 at Arizona.
Giants 6, Diamondbacks 3=
PHOENIX (AP) - Tim Lincecum(notes) struck out 11 and San Francisco hit three homers.
The Giants have won four straight and six of Dallas Cowboys jersey
seven.
Lincecum (13-9) allowed one runner, Miguel Montero’s(notes) single, through six innings before the Diamondbacks broke through in the seventh. He left after 6 2-3 innings, giving up three runs and five hits with no walks in 6 2-3 innings.
Aubrey Huff(notes), Freddy Sanchez(notes) and Pat Burrell(notes) homered off Barry Enright(notes) (6-3).Jeremy Affeldt(notes) induced a game-ending double play for a one-pitch save. It was his fourth of the season.
Chris Young homered for the Diamondbacks in a game that took just 2 hours, 16 minutes - Arizona’s shortest of the year.
Pirates 5, Braves 0=
PITTSBURGH (AP) - James McDonald(notes) pitched seven innings, Ronny Cedeno’s(notes) triple keyed a five-run seventh and last-place Pittsburgh beat Atlanta for the second straight day.
The Braves have scored only 12 runs while losing five of six, a slump that followed a five-game winning streak. The Pirates had lost seven of nine and were on pace to lose 109 games before winning the first two games of the three-game series.
Tim Hudson(notes) (15-7) held the Pirates to three hits over six shutout innings, but he retired only one batter during the Pirates’ breakthrough seventh. He was charged with four runs after pitching 28 consecutive innings against Pittsburgh without allowing an earned run.
McDonald (3-5) gave up five hits in seven innings.
Mets 4, Nationals 1=
WASHINGTON (AP) - Dillon Gee(notes) took a no-hitter into the sixth inning of his major league debut to lead New York.
The 24-year-old right-hander did a masterful job over seven innings. Willie Harris(notes) led off the sixth with a home run to right field, the only run the rookie would allow.
In a rare matchup of pitchers making big league debuts, Gee (1-0) outpitched Yunesky Maya(notes), a 28-year-old Cuban defector. Maya (0-1) allowed a three-run first-inning homer to Ike Davis(notes) and a run in the second before retiring 11 of the last 12 batters he faced.
Gee had an RBI single in his first major league at-bat, a single to right that scored Ruben Tejada(notes). For a while, Gee was the most perfect player in baseball history, sporting a 1.000 batting average and a 0.00 ERA. He spoiled it when he struck out in the fourth.
Astros 7, Cubs 3=
CHICAGO (AP) - Michael Bourn(notes) had three hits and three RBIs and Brett Wallace(notes) hit his first career home run for Houston.
Bourn scored twice for the Astros, who won for the 12th time in 16 games.
Astros starter Nelson Figueroa(notes) (5-2) pitched five innings to earn Minnesota Vikings jersey
the victory. He allowed three runs and six hits. Figueroa was backed by four scoreless innings from the Houston bullpen, which allowed only one hit.
Cubs starter Carlos Silva(notes) (10-6), who made his first start since Aug. 1, was tagged for six runs and nine hits in five innings.
Tyler Colvin(notes) drove in two runs on two hits for the Cubs.