Stauffer shines in Padres’ win over Giants

SAN DIEGO (AP)—Tim Stauffer(notes) threw six sparkling innings and Yorvit Torrealba(notes) homered as the San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants 1-0 on Saturday to retain the National League West lead.
The Padres (80-61) snapped a virtual tie for the top spot in the division, taking a one-game lead over the Giants (80-63) after dropping the first two in the four-game set. San Francisco pulled within one percentage point of San Diego with Friday night’s 1-0 win.
Stauffer, the club’s long reliever, made just his third start of nfl jersey
the season but was sensational. He yielded three hits and pitched out of his only jam in the second.
Torrealba’s fifth homer in the third landed in the right-field porch and helped San Diego win for just the fourth time in 16 games.
Luke Gregerson(notes), Mike Adams(notes) and Heath Bell(notes) each pitched a hitless inning in the Padres’ 18th shutout of the season. Bell earned his 40th save in 43 chances.
Braves 6, Cardinals 3, 12 innings.
At Atlanta, Alex Gonzalez(notes) hit a three-run homer in the 12th inning as Atlanta beat St. Louis to move into a share of the NL East lead. With runners on first and third base and the outfielders playing shallow to guard against a sacrifice fly, Gonzalez hit the winning shot off Mitchell Boggs(notes) (2-3) into the left-field seats.
The Braves improved their major league-best home record to 51-20 and grabbed a share of the division lead with the Philadelphia Phillies, who lost to the New York Mets 4-3.
Albert Pujols(notes) had three RBIs for St. Louis, which is facing an uphill climb to return to the playoffs.
Mets 4, Phillies 3
At New York, Mike Pelfrey(notes) was dominant into the eighth inning to earn his career-high 14th victory as New York stopped Philadelphia’s four-game winning streak.
Ike Davis(notes) kept up his big September with four hits and three RBIs and Jose Reyes(notes) homered for the Mets, helping quiet the red-clad Philadelphia fans in the Citi Field crowd of 35,788.
New York was able to slow the surging Phillies in their pursuit of a fourth straight NL East title even without center fielder Carlos Beltran(notes), who sat out with tendinitis in his left knee. He is day to day.
Marlins 4, Nationals 1
At Washington, Anibal Sanchez(notes) remained unbeaten against Washington, allowing four hits in 7 2-3 innings to pitch Florida past the Nationals for the fifth straight time.
Emilio Bonifacio(notes) hit a two-run single to back Sanchez (12-9), who gave up one run, struck out four and walked none. He has a 2.29 career ERA against the Nationals, going 2-0 this year. Wilson Ramos’(notes) RBI double in the eighth was the first earned run Sanchez allowed against the Nationals in 23 1-3 innings.
Dodgers 6, Astros 3
At Houston, reliever Brandon Lyon’s(notes) threw away a bunt for Indianapolis Colts jersey
a tiebreaking two-run error in a three-run ninth inning to give Los Angeles a win over Houston.
Dodgers manager Joe Torre was ejected in the first inning by plate umpire Paul Emmel. Torre complained from the dugout after Casey Blake(notes) was called out on strikes, then left the dugout following the ejection to speak with Emmel.
With the score 3-3, Trent Oeltjen(notes) singled off Lyon (6-6) and Reed Johnson(notes) reached on a bunt single down the first-base line.
A.J. Ellis(notes) bunted, and Lyon picked up the sacrifice, then hesitated and threw wildly to first as two runs scored. Ellis went to third on the error and scored on pinch-hitter James Loney’s(notes) double.
Reds 5, Pirates 4, 10 innings
At Cincinnati, Joey Votto(notes) led off the bottom of the 10th inning with his 33rd homer, sending Cincinnati to a wild victory over Pittsburgh that extended their NL Central lead to a daunting seven games.
Votto hit the fourth pitch from Justin Thomas(notes) (0-1) into the seats in left, touching off chants of “MVP” with his first career game-ending homer.
Edinson Volquez(notes) dominated for seven innings, allowing one hit and fanning 10 before turning a 3-0 lead over to the Reds bullpen.
Neil Walker’s(notes) two-run single past hard-throwing Aroldis Chapman(notes) completed Pittsburgh’s rally to a 4-3 lead in the eighth. Joel Hanrahan(notes) blew the save chance, giving up a tying double by Chris Heisey(notes) in the ninth.
Cubs 1, Brewers 0
At Milwaukee, Ryan Dempster(notes) struck out eight batters in seven crisp innings, earning his 100th career win and helping Chicago beat Milwaukee.
Xavier Nady(notes) homered for Chicago, which got an outstanding outing from Carlos Zambrano(notes) in a 4-0 victory in the series opener Friday night.
Dempster (13-10) allowed three hits and walked two, improving to 15-2 with a 2.90 ERA in 22 career starts against the Brewers. The right-hander retired 21 of the first 26 batters on his way to his 50th victory with Chicago.
Rockies 2, Diamondbacks 1
At Denver, pinch-hitter Jonathan Herrera’s(notes) sacrifice fly off Mike Hampton(notes) broke a seventh-inning tie as Colorado rallied past Arizona for its ninth straight victory.
Rookie Matt Reynolds(notes) (1-0) picked up his first major Minnesota Vikings jersey
league win by working one scoreless inning as Colorado stayed 2 1/2 games behind San Diego in the NL West race. The Padres beat San Francisco 1-0.
Diamondbacks right-hander Rodrigo Lopez(notes) cruised along until the seventh, when he gave up three straight hits, including Miguel Olivo’s(notes) RBI single that tied it at 1 and took Ubaldo Jimenez(notes) off the hook for a hard-luck loss.