WASHINGTON (AP) - Ryan Zimmerman's line drive to right-center kept going - and going and going - until it landed in the first row, highlighting another big Fourth of July for the resurgent third baseman and as the NL East-leading Washington Nationals beat the San Francisco Giants 9-4 Wednesday.
Zimmerman missed another home run by inches - he had to settle for an RBI double - on a humid day when the ball carried well at Nationals Park. He is 10 for 20 with four homers and 13 RBIs in six Independence Day games.
Undeterred by an 11:08 a.m. holiday start time that followed a late-finishing game, Washington rallied from an early deficit to move 15 games above .500, matching its season-high.
PHILLIES 9, METS 2
NEW YORK (AP) - Cliff Lee finally posted his first win of the season and the Philadelphia Phillies hit three late homers, breaking past the Mets and stopping a six-game losing streak.
Chase Utley and Carlos Ruiz hit consecutive home runs in the seventh inning as the Phillies rallied from a 2-0 deficit. Ty Wigginton's two-run homer in the ninth capped the surge.
Lee (1-5) had gone a puzzling 13 starts this year without a victory, a big reason the five-time NL East champions have fallen far behind. The lefty ace hadn't been awful, nor had he been consistently good.
Facing the Mets for the fourth time this season, Lee came out sharp and struck out three of the first four batters. He wound up going eight innings and struck out nine, most of them looking.
PIRATES 6, ASTROS 4
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Mike McKenry and Pedro Alvarez drove in two runs apiece, and the Pirates looked pretty comfortable during their first day in first place, beating the Astros.
Kevin Correia (5-6) won his third straight decision as the streaking Pirates moved nine games above .500 (45-36) for the first time since Barry Bonds was swinging for the fences at Three Rivers Stadium 20 years ago. Joel Hanrahan pitched the ninth for his 21st save. Garrett Jones added two hits for Pittsburgh, which has won seven of eight.
Houston rookie Dallas Keuchel (1-1) suffered his first major league loss, giving up four runs in 5 2-3 innings, more runs than he gave up in his first three starts combined.
J.D. Martinez hit his 10th homer for the Astros, while Scott Moore and Brian Bogusevic each had two hits, though it couldn't stop Houston from dropping its seventh straight.
MARLINS 7, BREWERS 6, 10 innings
MILWAUKEE (AP) - Hanley Ramirez hit an RBI single off reliever Manny Parra in the 10th inning, and the Marlins went on to beat the Brewers.
Ramirez's big hit came after the Marlins rallied from a one-run deficit in the ninth, when Gaby Sanchez hit a solo home run off Brewers closer John Axford to tie the game at 6.
After the Brewers left a pair of runners on base on the bottom of the ninth, Parra got two quick outs to start the 10th. But he gave up a double to Donovan Solano, then Ramirez singled up the middle to give the Marlins the lead.
Parra (0-3) took the loss, and Wade LeBlanc earned the win (1-0).
Heath Bell pitched the 10th for his 18th save after a rough outing Tuesday.
CARDINALS 4, ROCKIES 1
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Adam Wainwright pitched six strong innings and Matt Holliday had three hits to lead the Cardinals to a win over the Rockies.
Wainwright (7-8) gave up one run, struck out seven and allowed eight hits to help the Cardinals win for the third time in four games. He fanned seven of the first 13 hitters and threw a first-pitch strike to nine of the first 10 batters.
St. Louis scored runs in the first and second off Colorado spot starter Jeremy Guthrie (3-8), who gave up two runs in six innings.
CUBS 5, BRAVES 1
ATLANTA (AP) - Bryan LaHair, Jeff Baker and Anthony Rizzo hit home runs and the Cubs continued their success against Atlanta.
Paul Maholm (6-6) gave up one run on eight hits in six innings.
The Cubs have won two of the first three games in the four-game series after winning two of three in Chicago on May 7-9.
Rizzo's homer off Anthony Varvaro in the eighth was his second of the series and third overall since his recall from Triple-A Iowa on June 26.
Randall Delgado (4-9) allowed three runs on seven hits and two walks in six-plus innings. Delgado has lost four straight decisions.
DODGERS 4, REDS 1
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Aaron Harang pitched seven strong innings against his former team and the Dodgers defeated the Reds to win consecutive games for the first time since June 9-10.
Harang (6-5) allowed one run and three hits, struck out five and walked one in his second career start against the team he pitched for from 2003-10. The right-hander last faced the Reds and beat them on June 21, 2002, with Oakland.
Kenley Jansen pitched a perfect ninth to earn his 14th save in 17 chances.
The Dodgers took two out of three against the Reds to snap their skid of four straight series losses. They had not won a series since June 15-17 against the Chicago White Sox, while they won two in a row for the first time since June 9-10 at Seattle.
PADRES 8, DIAMONDBACKS 6
PHOENIX (AP) - Yasmani Grandal hit a two-run pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning that propelled the Padres to a victory over the Diamondbacks and their first ever three-game sweep in Phoenix.
Grandal has now homered in four of his six hits and was the seventh player since 1900 to homer in his first three hits. He hit David Hernandez's pitch just over the right field fence. Justin Upton made a leaping try for the catch but the ball bounced off his glove.
Jason Kubel, who had a grand slam for Arizona in Tuesday night's 9-5 loss, hit a three-run homer.
Luke Gregerson (2-0) struck out the only two batters he faced in the seventh to get the victory. Hernandez (1-2) took the loss.