(1080)
(21)
(5)
(3)Joel Peralta, the sixth Colorado pitcher, began his third inning of work by giving up a single to Casey Blake in the 13th. The next batter was Ethier, who homered to right field on a 1-2 count for his team-high 15th of the season, 14. Three of those came last Friday night against Seattle.
Peralta (0-1) had made 11 straight scoreless appearances since May 25, against the Dodgers at Coors Field, when he gave up an RBI single to Russell Martin. The Rockies remained the only team in the majors without an extra-inning victory, dropping to 0-4.
James McDonald (2-1), the eighth Dodgers pitcher, struck out two in a perfect inning for the win.
Ryan Spilborghs hit his sixth homer for Colorado.
Astros 3, Padres 1
At San Diego, Houston's Roy Oswalt dominated San Diego again, pitching a two-hitter and retiring his final 18 batters.
Ivan Rodriguez homered and Oswalt (4-4) helped himself with two hits. The right-hander improved to 10-2 with a 2.68 ERA against the Padres in 15 career appearances, including 13 starts. His .833 winning percentage is the highest among active pitchers with at least 10 decisions against San Diego.
It was Oswalt's 17th career complete game and second this season.
Rodriguez hit his seventh home run, a solo shot to center off starter Josh Geer (1-3) that tied it 1-all in the fifth inning.
The Astros went ahead with two runs in the sixth on consecutive singles by Miguel Tejada, Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee, and a sacrifice fly by Geoff Blum.
Geer allowed three runs and eight hits in seven innings. He struck out two and walked one.
In earlier National League action Monday night:
Giants 10, Cardinals 0
At St. Louis, Tim Lincecum threw a two-hitter for his third complete game of the season, and Travis Ishikawa homered for San Francisco.
Lincecum (8-2) tied teammate Matt Cain for the league lead in complete games and his 2.37 ERA is second in the NL after his third career shutout and fifth career complete game. He threw 95 pitches.
Brad Thompson (2-4) took the loss for the Cardinals, who have lost five of six while scoring three or fewer runs in all of the setbacks.
Lincecum retired the first 14 hitters in order before Rick Ankiel singled to center with two outs in the fifth.
Edgar Renteria's three-run double capped a five-run seventh as the Giants batted around against Clayton Mortensen in his major league debut. Only one of the runs was earned because of a throwing error by second baseman Skip Schumaker.
Lincecum's eight strikeouts gave him the major league lead with 132 in 114 innings. Over his last eight starts, he's 5-1 with a 1.27 ERA.
Brewers 10, Mets 6
At Milwaukee, Casey McGehee hit his first career grand slam and J.J. Hardy tied a career high with four hits, including a homer, for the Brewers.
The Mets have lost four straight, falling under .500 (37-38) for the first time since May 5. Fernando Nieve (3-1) gave up 11 hits and three runs in 3 1-3 innings.
Braden Looper (6-4) allowed seven hits and two walks in 6 1-3 innings.
McGehee hit his grand slam against reliever Brian Stokes for a 7-2 lead. He has hit all five of his career homers in his last 13 games.
The Brewers tacked on three runs in the seventh and eighth innings to take a 10-3 lead, but the Mets forced the Brewers to use closer Trevor Hoffman with one out in the ninth after five straight hits.
The all-time saves leader forced Brian Schneider to hit into a double play on his first pitch for his 18th save in 19 tries.
Cubs 3, Pirates 1
At Pittsburgh, Rich Harden repeatedly worked out of trouble to win for the first time in more than six weeks and Ryan Theriot homered for Chicago.
The Cubs were 1-6 on a 10-game trip and 14-24 overall on the road before winning their eighth in their last 10 in Pittsburgh. They have won 20 of their last 25 games there.
Harden (5-4) was 0-3 with a 5.64 ERA in four starts since last winning May 12. Pittsburgh stranded a combined five runners during the fifth and sixth innings, then Freddy Sanchez grounded into a double play with two on and one out in the seventh.
Harden gave up nine hits — eight singles— and walked a batter, but struck out nine. The Pirates were 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position against the right-hander, who was 0-2 in three starts after a strained back put him on the disabled list.
Kevin Gregg pitched the ninth for his 13th save.
Pirates starter Zach Duke (8-6) couldn't extend his five-game home winning streak, giving up seven hits and three runs in seven innings.
Marlins 4, Nationals 2
At Miami, Ricky Nolasco retired the final 13 batters he faced and Emilio Bonifacio drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth for Florida.
Hanley Ramirez had three hits and an RBI for Florida, which snapped a three-game slide and is 7-0 against Washington this season. Nolasco (5-6) won his third straight start, going eight innings and yielding four hits and two runs with eight strikeouts.
Ryan Zimmerman hit his 13th homer for Washington, which wasted a stellar effort from left-hander Scott Olsen in his return from the disabled list.
Pinch-hitter Wes Helms hit a leadoff double off Ron Villone (3-5) in the eighth. After a sacrifice, Bonifacio's fly ball to center scored pinch-runner Alejandro De Aza without a throw for a 3-2 lead.
Leo Nunez got the final out for his third save.
Making his first start since May 16 because of left shoulder tendinitis, Olsen allowed six hits and two runs in seven innings, striking out seven.



