Padres Sweep Into First-Place Tie

On a night the Pittsburgh Pirates played worse and worse as they got madder and madder, it was the San Diego Padres who were left with the final word.

Sweep.

Jake Peavy gave up one run in six efficient innings, and the Padres took advantage of Pittsburgh’s deficient defense to beat the Pirates, 7-3, Wednesday and sweep a road doubleheader for the first time in nearly 14 years.

In the first game, Phil Nevin drove in three runs and Brian Lawrence won his fourth start in a row, a 6-3 victory by the Padres that was aided by three errors.

The Padres hadn’t swept a road doubleheader since Aug. 7, 1990, when Andy Benes and Eric Show were the winning pitchers in Atlanta.

San Diego moved into a virtual tie with the Dodgers for the National League West lead.

“We haven’t been playing well, so to sweep this is big for our team,” Brian Giles said. “Any time you win two baseball games on a long night, it’s a lot of fun.”

The Padres had been swept at home by the Chicago Cubs in a three-game weekend series.

The Pirates have dropped six in a row at PNC Park and are 4-12 there, easily the worst home record in the major leagues. It didn’t help when they ended a streak of 57 innings without an error by committing five errors in a span of four innings, including a four-run Padre first inning to start the second game.

Pirate pitching coach Spin Williams was ejected during that inning, apparently because he thought plate umpire Larry Vanover wasn’t giving Oliver Perez enough of the plate. Second baseman Bobby Hill was thrown out later after striking out for the fourth consecutive time.

“It was an ugly night,” said Manager Lloyd McClendon, who declined to criticize Vanover’s ball-strike calls. “But it’s not where we’re playing, it’s us. The onus is on us to play better.”

Chicago 4, San Francisco 3 -- Moises Alou foiled his father’s strategy and homered in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift the Cubs at Chicago.

With one out, Giant Manager Felipe Alou pulled left-hander Jason Christiansen and brought in right-hander Jim Brower (1-3) to face his son. But Moises hit a 3-and-2 pitch to end the game.

Arizona 6, Atlanta 4 -- Luis Gonzalez hit his second home run of the game, and Steve Finley followed with a solo shot for the Diamondbacks in the 11th inning at Atlanta.

Arizona rallied in the 11th against Armando Almanza (0-1) after squandering a 4-0 lead in the eighth.

Julio Franco accounted for two of the Braves’ runs with a homer in the eighth inning. Franco, 45, surpassed his 2-week-old record as the oldest player to homer as a pinch-hitter.

Houston 10, Florida 2 -- Lance Berkman homered for the second consecutive game, and Jeff Kent and Morgan Ensberg each drove in three runs at Miami.

The Marlins, who got a two-run inside-the-park homer from Hee Seop Choi, have lost four of five games since winning two of three at Houston.

St. Louis 1, New York 0 -- Scott Rolen hit a run-scoring double in the eighth inning at New York.

Jeff Suppan, Cal Eldred (1-0) and Steve Kline combined on a four-hitter.

Tony Womack led off the eighth with a single against Mike Stanton (0-1).

Edgar Renteria reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second with two outs before Rolen’s hit against Ricky Bottalico.

Cincinnati 4, Colorado 3 -- Danny Graves blew a chance for a record-setting save, but D’Angelo Jimenez singled with the bases loaded in the 10th inning to rally the host Reds to their fourth victory in five games.

Jose Acevedo struck out a career-high 11 in seven shutout innings, but the Rockies rallied to tie the score.

Vinny Castilla hit a two-out, two-run homer in the eighth against Todd Jones. Graves relieved with a chance to set a Cincinnati record for career saves, but blew it on his first pitch -- Jeromy Burnitz’s 13th homer -- and remains tied with John Franco at 148.

Milwaukee 6, Montreal 3 -- Bill Hall hit a go-ahead, three-run triple through a steady rain at San Juan, Puerto Rico, to help the Brewers end the Expos’ four-game winning streak.

Jose Vidro grounded out with two on to end the game. He finished 0 for 4, extending his slump to two for 24.