Zambrano Loses No-Hitter in Eighth

Carlos Zambrano lost his bid for a no-hitter with two out in the eighth inning on an extremely close play, but he pitched the Chicago Cubs past the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4-1, Friday night at Phoenix.

Sammy Sosa homered twice and Arizona’s Curt Schilling struck out 14, but Zambrano got all the attention as he tried to make history.

Arizona had not come close to a hit until Shea Hillenbrand topped a ball down the third-base line in the eighth. Third baseman Aramis Ramirez charged, gloved it and made a throw that first baseman Randall Simon stretched to catch.

First-base umpire Bill Miller, called Hillenbrand safe. A TV replay, however, appeared to show Hillenbrand was out.

Zambrano (12-9) finished with a three-hitter. He lost his shutout bid in the ninth when Carlos Baerga walked, Luis Gonzalez singled with two out and Raul Mondesi followed with an RBI double off the third-base bag.

Sosa extended his streak of 30-homer seasons to nine, the sixth-longest in major league history. His second home run also was his 500th as a Cub, 12 short of Ernie Banks’ franchise record.

Philadelphia 9, St. Louis 4 -- At St. Louis, Jim Thome and Pat Burrell each hit two home runs, and the Phillies ended Albert Pujols’ 30-game hitting streak.

Pujols sat out four games with flulike symptoms that began to drain him last Sunday -- and also served a two-game suspension during that time.

Pujols batted .390 during the streak, the longest in the majors this season. He grounded out twice, struck out twice and lined out to end the game. He is batting a major league-leading .367.

Atlanta 9, Colorado 3 -- Chipper Jones homered and drove in five runs and Greg Maddux (12-10) pitched six solid innings at Coors Field to help the Braves end a three-game losing streak.

San Francisco 6, Florida 4 -- Andres Galarraga drove in the go-ahead run during a five-run sixth inning as the Giants won their fourth in a row. It was the fourth loss in a row for the Marlins, who are 1 1/2 games behind Philadelphia in the wild-card race.

Sidney Ponson (1-3) got his first win since being acquired from the Baltimore Orioles on July 31.

Milwaukee 3, Pittsburgh 2 -- Wayne Franklin (9-10) did not give up a hit until Craig Wilson homered with one out in the seventh and Scott Podsednik hit two homers to lead the Brewers at Milwaukee.

Cincinnati 4, Houston 3 -- At Cincinnati, Juan Castro hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the seventh inning as the Reds ended Wade Miller’s six-game winning streak against them.

San Diego 5, Montreal 3 -- At San Diego, Mark Kotsay hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning as the Padres overcame a three-run deficit.