Josh Hamilton Leads Reds To Victory

Josh Hamilton's inspiring comeback story kept humming along and fellow rookie Jarrod Saltalamacchia capped off his charmed first week in the majors in style. <br/><br/>Hamilton homered twice and the

Monday, May 7th 2007, 7:15 am

By: News On 6

Josh Hamilton's inspiring comeback story kept humming along and fellow rookie Jarrod Saltalamacchia capped off his charmed first week in the majors in style.

Hamilton homered twice and the Cincinnati Reds snapped their four-game losing streak with a 9-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday.

``You can't help but feel good about it,'' Hamilton said.

His two-run shot off Josh Fogg (1-3) put Cincinnati in position to salvage the final game of the series. Hamilton's solo drive off reliever Alberto Arias in his next at-bat drew the latest ovation in his comeback from years of drug abuse.

Called up on his 22nd birthday Wednesday, Saltalamacchia made his second start Sunday, had his first hit and then drove in the go-ahead run with his first RBI to help the Atlanta Braves rally for a 6-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Saltalamacchia singled against Chad Billingsley, an old friend from South Florida, in the seventh inning to drive in Andruw Jones and give host Atlanta a 5-4 lead.

``I caught Chad growing up ... Junior Olympics, 18-and-under, summer leagues, stuff like that,'' Saltalamacchia said, adding the two played together for three years.

``I knew he had a hard fastball and good stuff, so I was sitting on a fastball. I knew he wanted to throw it past me.''

In other NL games, it was: San Diego 3, Florida 1; Philadelphia 8, San Francisco 5; Arizona 3, New York Mets 1; St. Louis 3, Houston 1; Chicago Cubs 4, Washington 3 in 10 innings; and Milwaukee 6, Pittsburgh 4.

At Cincinnati, Hamilton also made an over-the-shoulder catch to rob Brad Hawpe in center field in the eighth. He also threw out speedy Willy Taveras, who was trying to go from first to third on a single.

Right-hander Bronson Arroyo (2-2) worked 5 2-3 innings to get his first career victory over the Rockies.

At Atlanta, Chin-hui Tsao (0-1) allowed five runs and three hits in two-thirds of an inning.

Chad Paronto (2-0) recorded the last out in the seventh for the win and Mike Gonzalez pitched the ninth for his first save.

Padres 3, Marlins 1

At Miami, Jake Peavy allowed one hit in seven innings and struck out 10 for San Diego.

Peavy (4-1) no-hit Florida until Dan Uggla tripled with one out in the sixth to drive home an unearned run. Peavy then struck out Miguel Cabrera and Mike Jacobs to preserve a one-run lead.

Cabrera, Jacobs and Joe Borchard each struck out three times against Peavy. Cabrera finished 0-for-4 to snap a 10-game hitting streak.

Cla Meredith allowed an infield single by Uggla in the eighth, and Trevor Hoffman closed out the two-hitter with a perfect ninth for his 490th career save, adding to his major league record. He's 8-for-10 in save chances this year.

Scott Olsen (3-2) allowed two runs, one unearned in 6 2-3 innings for the Marlins.

Phillies 8, Giants 5

At San Francisco, Ryan Howard hit a two-run homer and Shane Victorino also took Tim Lincecum deep in the Phillies' win.

Jimmy Rollins added a go-ahead triple in the sixth for Philadelphia, which salvaged a split of the four-game series.

Cole Hamels (4-1) struck out nine to win his second straight start and also had a double in the sixth for his second hit of the year and first for extra bases. Rollins followed with his third triple of the series off reliever Vinnie Chulk (0-2).

The 22-year-old Lincecum, a hard-throwing righty selected 10th overall in the 2006 draft, struck out five and walked five. He allowed five runs _ four earned _ and five hits in 4 1-3 innings.

Diamondbacks 3, Mets 1

Livan Hernandez gave up one run in seven innings and Arizona ended a 13-game home losing streak to New York.

The Diamondbacks hadn't beaten the Mets at Chase Field since May 11, 2004. None of Arizona's nine starters were with the club then.

Carlos Quentin had an RBI double, and Stephen Drew and Miguel Montero added sacrifice flies as the Diamondbacks snapped a five-game skid. Hernandez (3-1) gave up six hits and three walks. Jose Valverde earned his 11th save.

The Mets, who won the first three games of the series, played short-handed. Carlos Beltran, a late scratch with sore legs, was not in the lineup. Moises Alou (knee) and Paul Lo Duca also were rested.

Mike Pelfrey (0-4) allowed three runs and six hits in 5 1-3 innings for New York.

Cardinals 3, Astros 1

At St. Louis, Braden Looper allowed a run in six innings, helping the punchless Cardinals beat Houston for only their second victory in eight games.

Scott Rolen snapped an 0-for-25 slump with a two-run single in a three-run fourth against Chris Sampson (3-2) for the Cardinals, last in the National League in runs.

The Cardinals have been outscored 52-13 the past eight games.

Looper (4-2) struck out three, walked two and allowed six hits.

Cubs 4, Nationals 3, 10 innings

At Chicago, Daryle Ward singled home the winning run in the 10th inning after Ryan Theriot tied it with a single in the ninth, and the surging Cubs got their fifth straight victory.

Theriot's big hit came off struggling closer Chad Cordero, who has four blown saves in eight chances. The Nationals have lost five in a row overall. After the game, they placed right-hander John Patterson on the disabled list because of elbow inflammation. He could miss at least a month.

Matt Murton opened the bottom of the 10th with a double against Ryan Wagner (0-2) and scored the winning run, helping the Cubs to their eighth victory in nine games.

Ryan Dempster (1-1) pitched a scoreless inning for the win.

Brewers 6, Pirates 4

Prince Fielder homered twice and scored the go-ahead run in Milwaukee's third straight win.

The Brewers, a major league-best 21-10, are 11 games over .500 for the first time since 1992. They have won seven of eight.

Fielder led off the eighth inning with a single against John Grabow (0-1) and advanced to second on Johnny Estrada's sacrifice. Matt Capps came in and got pinch-hitter Tony Graffanino to fly out before pinch-hitter Bill Hall drove in Fielder with a single to put Milwaukee ahead 5-4. Hall scored on Tony Gwynn Jr.'s single.

Carlos Villanueva (3-0) pitched 1 1-3 hitless innings to get the win and Francisco Cordero worked the ninth for his 12th save in 12 chances.

Chris Duffy homered for visiting Pittsburgh.