DENVER: Chris Iannetta singled home the winning run off Kevin Gregg in the ninth inning and Colorado homered six times to beat the Florida Marlins 18-17 after trailing by nine runs in the biggest comeback in Rockies history on Friday.
Garrett Atkins, who had a career-best five hits, drove in the tying run off Gregg (6-4), who blew his second save in 24 hours. After Hanley Ramirez’s error on a potential double-play groundball loaded the bases, Iannetta singled to left through a drawn-in infield. The last time a team came back to win from nine down was Aug. 23, 2006, when Cleveland rallied for a 15-13 victory at Kansas City, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Colorado scored in every inning but the eighth, yet trailed until Atkins’ tying single in the ninth.
Cubs 2 Cardinals 1: At St. Louis, the return of Chicago ace Carlos Zambrano trumped the soap opera setting of Jim Edmonds’ homecoming and Albert Pujols’ 300th home run.
Zambrano came off the 15-day disabled list from a shoulder strain with six spotless innings in the opener of a three-game series matching the NL’s top two teams. Slumping Kosuke Fukudome homered in the first inning and Geovany Soto connected in the fourth to give the Cubs only their third victory in nine games.
Padres 5 D’backs 1: At Phoenix, Baek Cha-seung threw six shutout innings for his first win in seven starts this season, and San Diego dropped National League West-leading Arizona below .500. Arizona (43-44) saw its lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers slip to a half-game, its narrowest margin since April 7.
Kevin Kouzmanoff had two singles and drove in a run for the Padres, who won for only the third time since June 14.
Brewers 9 Pirates 1: At Milwaukee, J.J. Hardy and Bill Hall hit two-run homers, Ben Sheets worked out of several jams to earn his 10th win and Milwaukee beat Pittsburgh.
Sheets (10-2) stranded eight runners in the first five innings, allowing one run and eight hits.
before departing with two outs in the sixth after throwing 120 pitches. He became the sixth 10-game winner in the NL this season.
Carlos Villanueva picked up his first save by pitching 3 1-3 innings.
Hardy, who struggled with a tight shoulder last month, had four hits for the second straight day to extend his hitting streak to 16 games, the longest active streak in the majors. His homer in the fifth set off Milwaukee’s offensive outburst.
Reds 3 Nationals 0: At Cincinnati, Ken Griffey Jr. hit a two-run drive for career homer No. 604 and Bronson Arroyo worked six innings to lead Cincinnati past Washington.
Griffey’s 11th homer of the season came on a 1-0 pitch from rookie Jason Bergmann (1-6) and gave the nine-time All-Star 5,001 total bases for his career, becoming 18th player to reach that level.
Arroyo (6-7) was sharp after the game started following a 1-hour, 2-minute rain delay. He gave up five hits to earn his second consecutive win after three straight losses.
David Weathers and Jared Burton each pitched an inning before Francisco Cordero finished the eight-hitter for his 17th save in 20 tries.
Dodgers 10 Giants 7: At San Francisco, Andre Ethier homered and hit a go-ahead two-run double in the sixth, Derek Lowe won for the first time in three starts and Los Angeles rallied past San Francisco for its fourth straight victory.
Giants rookie reliever Osiris Matos (0-1) allowed five unearned runs in the sixth. Left fielder Fred Lewis made a costly mistake when he dropped a routine line drive by Nomar Garciaparra to start the inning. Pinch-hitter Delwyn Young hit a tying RBI single two batters later, then one out later Ethier began a stretch of three straight doubles that scored runs.
Phillies 3 Mets 2: At Philadelphia, Shane Victorino’s two-out RBI single in the ninth inning lifted Philadelphia over New York.
Duaner Sanchez (3-1) retired the first two batters before Pedro Feliz doubled to left field. Victorino followed with a liner to right on a 1-2 pitch to score Feliz and send a sellout crowd into a frenzy.
The NL East-leading Phillies have won four straight after losing 13 of 18. Brad Lidge (2-0) pitched a perfect ninth, capping the Philadelphia bullpen’s 4 1-3 scoreless innings.
Braves 6 Astros 2: At Atlanta, Jason Perry hit a run-scoring triple in his first major league at-bat, Tim Hudson gave up only one run in seven innings and Atlanta ended a five-game losing streak.
Mark Kotsay’s run-scoring fly to center field in the second inning gave the Braves a 1-0 lead, and Perry followed with a triple to the right-field wall that drove in Brian McCann from first base.
McCann drove in Chipper Jones with a third-inning single for a 3-0 lead, and Kelly Johnson added a two-run homer.
Hudson (9-6) gave up four hits and one run, with three walks and six strikeouts. Mike Gonzalez pitched a perfect ninth for Atlanta.
