Cardinals Are Swept by Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates wish they had played this well against the St. Louis Cardinals back when they were close to the Central Division leaders in the standings.

Bobby Hill drove in the winning run with a two-out, pinch-hit single in the ninth inning to lead the Pirates past the Cardinals, 6-5, Wednesday night, completing their first three-game sweep of the Cardinals at Pittsburgh in nearly 15 years.

Even with the sweep, the Pirates trail St. Louis by 12 1/2 games and need a Tampa Bay Devil Ray-like turnaround to make something out of what is fast becoming their 12th consecutive losing season.

Julian Tavarez (2-2) replaced starting pitcher Matt Morris to start the ninth and retired the first two hitters, but Jack Wilson and Rob Mackowiak singled and Hill lined a single into right field on a 2-and-1 pitch to drive in Wilson.

Jose Mesa (2-0) blew his first save opportunity in 18 chances but got his second victory of the series. The Cardinals came into the series with a five-game winning streak, 11 victories in 13 games and a 22-6 record in PNC Park.

Cincinnati 2, New York 0 -- Cory Lidle outpitched Tom Glavine at Cincinnati and shut down the Mets for the second time in a week. Adam Dunn homered and Ryan Freel hit a run-scoring single against Glavine (7-5), whose 2.16 earned-run average is the best in the majors.

The Reds ended a three-game losing streak behind Lidle (6-5), who has beaten his former team in each of his last two starts. The right-hander gave up three singles in seven innings.

Montreal 6, Philadelphia 3 -- Juan Rivera hit a go-ahead run-scoring single with two out in the eighth inning, and the Expos overcame Jim Thome’s major league-leading 27th homer at Philadelphia. They had been 0-37 when trailing after seven innings dating to Sept. 16, 2003.

Thome’s two-run homer in the fifth against Zach Day was his 15th in June, tying the club record for homers in a month set by Cy Williams in 1923.

Atlanta 9, Florida 6 -- J.D. Drew homered twice and drove in five runs to lead the host Braves. The game was delayed by rain for 75 minutes in the second inning, and rain fell throughout most of the game.

Milwaukee 5, Colorado 4 -- Todd Helton ended the Rockies’ six-game homerless streak at Coors Field with his 14th of the season, but they couldn’t do much against Ben Sheets (7-5) after a three-run fourth inning. Colorado’s Larry Walker had his 2,000th career hit.

Arizona 8, San Diego 5 -- Danny Bautista hit a go-ahead double in the seventh inning at Phoenix, helping the Diamondbacks stop their franchise-record losing streak at 11 games. Chad Tracy had a three-run homer as Arizona rebounded from one-run deficits three times.