Hamels (9-10) continued to receive little run support, but didn’t need much as he breezed to his second straight win and ran his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 18. He allowed three hits and struck out seven.
A Milwaukee miscommunication led to the game’s only run. Center fielder Lorenzo Cain and left fielder Ryan Braun converged on a fly ball by Shane Victorino, but it dropped between them for a double, despite Braun’s last-minute lunge.
Victorino moved to third on a groundout and scored on Carlos Ruiz’s groundout.
Ryan Madson worked the ninth for his fifth save. Closer Brad Lidge was unavailable after pitching in three straight games.
The Phillies recorded their 17th shutout of the season, while Milwaukee was shut out for the 11th time.
Chris Capuano (2-3) allowed a run and four hits in five innings.
Rockies 4 Padres 3: In San Diego, Jason Giambi and Troy Tulowitzki hit two-run homers to ruin left-hander Cory Luebke’s big league debut and hand reeling NL West-leading San Diego its season-high eighth straight loss.
San Diego kept its three-game lead over San Francisco, which lost 4-2 at Los Angeles.
The Padres have been outscored 45-19 during their losing streak, which is their longest since they lost eight straight in June 2008. The Padres lost 99 games that season.
While Luebke (0-1) struggled through five innings, Aaron Cook (5-8) returned from a monthlong stay on the disabled list and held the Padres to two runs and four hits in 6 1-3 innings.
Huston Street pitched the ninth for his 14th save.
Nick Hundley had a pinch-hit, two-run homer with one out in the seventh off reliever Samuel Deduno to pull the Padres to 4-3.
Cardinals 3 Reds 2: In St. Louis, rookie Jaime Garcia beat Cincinnati for the fourth time and stopped St. Louis’ five-game losing streak.
The Cardinals scored in consecutive innings for the first time in seven games, getting two in the first and one in the second. Jon Jay had an RBI triple and Albert Pujols followed with a sacrifice fly in the first and Brendan Ryan singled, went to third on Garcia’s double and scored on Skip Schumaker’s groundout in the second.
The Cardinals are 11-5 against the Reds but only 32-29 overall against the Central. Cincinnati is 39-23 in the division.
Paul Janish homered with one out in the third to end Garcia’s run of 22 2-3 innings without allowing an earned run. The 23-year-old left-hander allowed Jonny Gomes’ RBI double in the fourth and lasted 6 2-3 innings, plus added two hits off Bronson Arroyo (14-9).
Marlins 6 Braves 1: In Miami, Logan Morrison hit two stand-up RBI triples, and Florida’s Andrew Miller worked five innings for his first win in more than a year.
Atlanta’s loss, combined with Philadelphia’s 1-0 win over Milwaukee, cut the Braves’ NL East lead over the Phillies to one game.
Morrison became the eighth player to hit multiple triples in a game this season, according to STATS LLC, after hitting only one in his first 126 at-bats. Both came off Atlanta starter Kenshin Kawakami (1-10), who gave up five hits — all for extra bases — five runs and four walks in three innings.
Dodgers 4 Giants 2: In Los Angeles, Los Angeles’ Chad Billingsley hit a go-ahead two-run single in the fourth inning and limited San Francisco to two hits over eight innings.
Billingsley (11-8) allowed two runs, struck out seven and walked two. Both runs were unearned, the result of a fourth-inning error by shortstop Rafael Furcal , who came off the disabled list earlier Friday.
Hong-Chih Kuo pitched the ninth to earn his eighth save.
Billingsley singled off Barry Zito (8-11) with two outs in the fourth, putting the Dodgers ahead 4-2.
Cubs 7 Mets 6: In Chicago, Alfonso Soriano and Blake DeWitt hit three-run homers for Chicago.
David Wright hit a two-run double and scored in the first inning as the Mets took a 3-0 lead against Randy Wells . With the Cubs ahead 7-4, Wright homered off Andrew Cashner leading off the seventh, giving him three hits.
Luis Hernandez started the eighth against Sean Marshall with his second career homer and first since Sept. 27, 2007, making it 7-6.
Soriano capped a four-run fourth off R.A. Dickey (9-6) with his 22nd homer, putting the Cubs ahead 4-3. The Mets tied it in the sixth on Lucas Duda’s first hit and RBI of his career.
Pirates 8 Nationals 5: In Pittsburgh, Ryan Doumit had three hits, including a home run, and two RBIs, and Garrett Jones drove in three runs to lead Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh’s three rookie regulars also made contributions as Pedro Alvarez hit a two-run double in the fifth, Jose Tabata had two hits and two RBIs and Neil Walker extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
Zach Duke (7-12) pitched five innings for the win and left after failing to retire any of the four batters he faced in the sixth as Washington scored four runs to close to 8-5. He allowed four runs and five hits with three walks and five strikeouts.
Diamondbacks 4 Astros 3: In Phoenix, pinch-hitter Augie Ojeda hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to lift Arizona to its eighth win in nine games.
Daniel Hudson pitched six effective innings, Aaron Heilman (5-5) allowed a hit in the eighth and Juan Gutierrez worked the ninth for his seventh save.
Adam LaRoche drove in two runs with a double in the first inning and a single in the fifth to reach 89 RBIs, eclipsing Tony Clark’s 2005 team record for a first baseman by two.
Houston starter Brett Myers extended his streak of lasting at least six innings to 28 games.
