TORONTO, 25 May 2005 — Dontrelle Willis pitched his eighth victory of the season while Carlos Delgado and Miguel Cabrera hit consecutive home runs as the Florida Marlins beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-2 in Miami on Monday.
Willis (8-1) became the NL’s first eight-game winner as the Marlins won their season-high fifth straight game to stay in control of first place in the East Division.
After losing his first decision of the season in a 14-5 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in his most recent start, Willis allowed just two runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks over eight innings.
Todd Jones pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the Marlins for his seventh save.
Trailing 1-0, the Marlins scored four runs in the sixth on a three-run homer by Delgado, followed by Cabrera’s solo shot, to give Willis all the offense he would need.
In other games, Eric Milton pitched eight strong innings as the Reds beat the Washington Nationals 5-3 in Cincinnati. Milton (3-5) allowed one earned run on six hits, walked two and struck out seven. David Weathers pitched one inning for his first save and Jason LaRue had three hits and homered for the Reds.
In Chicago, Glendon Rusch pitched eight solid innings as the Cubs beat the Houston Astros 4-1. Rusch (3-1) allowed one run on five hits, struck out six and walked one.
Ryan Dempster pitched one inning for his third save and Corey Patterson and Jeromy Burnitz homered for the Cubs.
In Atlanta, Horacio Ramirez pitched seven solid innings as the Braves beat the New York Mets 8-6. Ramirez (3-3) allowed four runs on eight hits, striking out two. Dan Kolb pitched one inning for his 11th save and Marcus Giles hit a three-run homer for the Braves. Kazuhisa Ishii (0-3) pitched four innings, allowing seven runs on seven hits and walking three.
In Milwaukee, Chris Capuano pitched 8 1/3 strong innings as the Brewers beat the Colorado Rockies 2-1. Capuano (4-3) allowed one run on three hits, struck out six and walked two. Ricky Bottalico pitched two outs for his second save and Bill Hall had two hits and drove in two runs for the Brewers.
In St. Louis, Chris Carpenter allowed four hits in seven innings as the Cardinals edged the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2. Reggie Sanders had two hits and two RBI for the Cards while Albert Pujols added a two-run double. Carpenter (7-2) had six strikeouts and walked three before Jason Isringhausen pitched the ninth for his 12th save.
Martinez Lifts Indians to
Victory Over Twins
In Toronto, Victor Martinez’s sacrifice fly in the eighth inning drove in the winning run as the Cleveland Indians edged the Minnesota Twins 2-1 in American League play at Jacobs Field on Monday.
The catcher’s liner to center field scored Jhonny Peralta as the Indians won their third straight game in the opener of a four-game series between the bitter Central Division rivals. It was an uneventful start to the series between the teams, who have had several on-field altercations in the past few seasons.
Major League Baseball issued a written warning to the clubs before the series began to keep their players in line after a benches-clearing incident on May 5. The warning worked, at least for the first game, played in front of just 13,257 fans on a bitterly cold night in Cleveland.
In the day’s other game, rookie Ervin Santana pitched a five-hit shutout as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Chicago White Sox 4-0 in Anaheim.
Santana (1-1) picked up his first major league victory in just his second start, striking out seven and walking one in a dominating performance. The 22-year-old got the better of veteran Jon Garland, handing him his first loss of the season. Bengie Molina had a solo home run and a run-scoring single while Adam Kennedy had a two-run double for the Angels.
