Dickey, Davis excel in Mets 3-0 win over Marlins

MIAMI: R.A. Dickey pitched a five-hit shutout for his 17th win, Ike Davis backed him with a home run and the New York Mets beat the Miami Marlins 3-0 on Friday night.
Dickey (17-4) struck out seven and walked three in his NL-leading fifth complete game. The knuckleballer has three shutouts this year and six in his career.
The game took just 2 hours, 7 minutes.
Davis hit his 25th homer, a two-run shot off Nathan Eovaldi (4-10) in the seventh inning. Davis also had a sacrifice fly in the fourth.
Nationals 10 Cardinals 0: In Washington, Gio Gonzalez earned his 17th win with his first career shutout and the Nationals handed Adam Wainwright his shortest start this season as Washington routed the Cardinals.
Adam LaRoche, Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman each drove in two runs and the Nationals sent 10 batters to the plate during a four-run third inning against Wainwright (13-11), who entered 5-0 in August.
Perfect through three innings, Gonzalez (17-7) held the suddenly anemic St. Louis lineup hitless through four innings. He finished with eight strikeouts and walked three during his 119-pitch outing en route to his fourth win in five starts and third career complete game.
The left-hander tied Cincinnati’s Johnny Cueto and New York Mets starter R.A. Dickey for the major league lead in wins.
Cubs 6 Giants 4: In Chicago, Alfonso Soriano hit a two-run homer that landed on Waveland Avenue and Anthony Rizzo added a solo shot, helping Chris Volstad and the Cubs beat the weary Giants.
Soriano also had a two-out RBI single in the first as Chicago earned its first win of the season against the NL West leaders in five tries. The Cubs were swept in a four-game series at San Francisco in June.
Volstad (2-9) allowed two runs and five hits in 5 2-3 innings for his second consecutive victory after a 24-start winless streak.
Buster Posey went 3 for 3 with two RBIs for San Francisco, which had won a season-high six consecutive road games.
The Giants rallied for an 8-4 victory in Houston on Thursday night, then arrived in Chicago around 3 a.m. They mostly stayed in the visitors’ clubhouse while the Cubs took batting practice, but still looked listless for much of the muggy day at Wrigley Field.
Diamondbacks 4 Dodgers 3: In Los Angeles, Jason Kubel homered to lead off the 11th inning, helping the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 after they blew a three-run lead on Friday night for their eighth consecutive win over their NL West rival.
Kubel sent a 1-1 pitch from Matt Guerrier (0-1) into the lower right field seats for his 27th homer. Guerrier was making his first appearance since April 18, having come off the disabled list on Thursday. Kubel was 1 for 24 before he homered, leaving him one shy of tying his career high of 28.
Brad Bergesen (1-0) pitched two hitless innings for the victory. J.J. Putz got three outs for his 28th save in 31 chances.
Reds 9 Astros 3: In Houston, Jay Bruce had a three-run homer and Zack Cozart added a two-run shot to help the Cincinnati Reds beat the Houston Astros 9-3 on Friday night.
Cozart’s home run gave the Reds an early lead before consecutive homers by Fernando Martinez and Matt Dominiguez tied it at 2-all in the fourth inning.
Chris Heisey singled in a run in the fifth to put the Reds on top and Bruce connected for his 28th home run later in the inning to cushion the lead.
It’s the fourth straight win for the NL-Central-leading Reds. The loss wraps up a dismal August for the last-place Astros, who have dropped six straight and went 5-22 in this month.
Reds starter Mike Leake (7-8) allowed seven hits and struck out six in six innings.