Fernandez upstages Puig in Marlins victory over Dodgers

MIAMI: Jose Fernandez bested Yasiel Puig and led the Miami Marlins over the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 Monday night.
Fernandez (9-5) allowed only one earned run in six innings, handing the NL West-leading Dodgers consecutive losses for the first time since June 20-21.
Puig went 0 for 3 against Fernandez in the first matchup between the Cubans, both NL Rookie of the Year contenders.
Giancarlo Stanton hit his 15th homer for Miami.
Hyun-Jin Ryu (12-4), another standout rookie, gave up three runs in 7 1-3 innings and lost for the first time in eight starts.
Cardinals 8 Brewers 5: In Milwaukee — Matt Carpenter hit an RBI single with two outs in the eighth inning, putting the St. Louis Cardinals ahead during a four-run rally against Milwaukee.
The Cardinals got seven of their 16 hits in the big inning, capped by pinch-hitter David Freese’s two-run double. St. Louis won for the ninth time in 11 games.
Carlos Beltran and Jon Jay homered for St. Louis and Yadier Molina had four hits.
Michael Wacha (2-0) got the win. Edward Mujica, unavailable during the weekend because of a tired arm, pitched the ninth for his 32nd save in 34 chances.

Reds 5 Diamondbacks 3: In Cincinnati, Ryan Ludwick drove in his first run of the season with a double, and the Cincinnati Reds kept up their August surge, beating Arizona for their seventh win in nine games.
Arizona now trails Cincinnati by six games for the final NL wild-card spot.
Bronson Arroyo (12-9) won his third straight start. J.J. Hoover retired the side in the eighth, his 23rd straight scoreless appearance — the longest active streak in majors.
Aroldis Chapman gave up a pair of singles in the ninth while getting his 31st save in 36 chances.
Ludwick got his long-awaited RBI during a three-run fourth inning against Randall Delgado (4-4).
Phillies 5 Rockies 4: In Philadelphia, John Mayberry Jr. and Carlos Ruiz each homered to lead Philadelphia past Colorado, giving the Phillies and interim manager Ryne Sandberg two straight wins for the first time since the All-Star break.
Ethan Martin (2-2) tossed two-hit ball and struck out six over 6 1-3 innings for the win. Jonathan Papelbon tossed a scoreless ninth for his first 21st save, and first since July 11.
Troy Tulowitzki hit a solo shot for the Rockies. Jeff Manship (0-3) allowed five runs in five innings.
Cubs 11 Nationals 1: In Chicago, Nate Schierholtz homered twice and drove in a career-high six runs, powering Jeff Samardzija and the Chicago Cubs past Washington.
Schierholtz connected for a three-run shot in the first and a two-run drive in the seventh in his fourth career multihomer game. He also had an RBI double in the third in Chicago’s highest-scoring game since a 14-6 victory over Houston on June 23.
Donnie Murphy added a pair of solo homers and Dioner Navarro had a three-run shot for the Cubs, who managed just 12 runs total in their previous eight home games.
Samardzija (7-11) pitched a six-hitter for his second complete game of the season. He struck out five and walked none in his first victory in a month.

Pirates 3 Padres 1: Francisco Liriano struck out a season-high 13 and Pedro Alvarez hit his NL-leading 31st home run to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates past San Diego.
The Pirates, who had lost seven of nine coming in, maintained a one-game lead in the NL Central over St. Louis.
The Padres struck out 17 times overall.
Liriano (14-5) tied his career high for wins. Coming off a four-hit victory at St. Louis in his last start, Liriano held the Padres to four hits in seven innings while walking two.
Mark Melancon pitched the ninth for his eighth save in 10 chances. He allowed Nick Hundley’s RBI double with two outs.

Red Sox 7 Giants 0: San Francisco — Jon Lester pitched into the ninth for his first victory in four tries this month, and the AL East-leading Boston Red Sox beat San Francisco after flying cross-country earlier in the day.
The Red Sox chose to travel first thing Monday from Boston rather than late Sunday night after a 9-6 loss to the Yankees at Fenway Park.
Lester (11-7) allowed six hits, struck out three and walked two in Boston’s seventh shutout. He outpitched two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum (6-13) to snap a three-start winless stretch.