Florida’s Victory Over Milwaukee Is a First

The Florida Marlins biggest offensive output in more than two years was enough to finally beat the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night.

Preston Wilson’s three-run home run was one of four Marlin homers and Jesus Sanchez won his first game as Florida defeated the Brewers, 14-6. It was Florida’s first victory in franchise history over Milwaukee.

Milwaukee, which joined the National League in 1998, went 9-0 against Florida last season and swept Florida in a three-game series in Miami last month.

“It is nice,” Marlin Manager John Boles said of ending the streak. “And it looked like everything was going nice and all of a sudden it’s 8-6. And you say, ‘Wow, this is one of those deals you’re really going to have to struggle to break that streak.’ ”

Kevin Orie, Bruce Aven and Cliff Floyd also homered for the Marlins, who scored their most runs since beating the Colorado Rockies, 16-9, on Aug. 5, 1996.

In his longest outing of the season, Sanchez (1-4) gave up four hits and two runs in seven innings. He struck out six and walked two. Matt Mantei got four outs for his fourth save.

San Diego 7, Cincinnati 3--The Padres hit three homers off winless Denny Neagle and extended their dominance over the Reds at Cincinnati.

San Diego won 11 of 12 against Cincinnati last year, its best season mark against any team in franchise history. The Padres won the first game this season.

Jim Leyritz and Eric Owens hit solo homers and George Arias had a two-run homer against Neagle (0-3), who lasted 5 1/3 innings. The left-hander has a 6.46 earned-run average in five starts.

Even though Sean Casey had a career-high four hits and Greg Vaughn had a solo homer and a broken-bat single against the team that traded him away after a 50-homer season, it wasn’t enough.

Andy Ashby (5-3) extended his winning streak against Cincinnati to four by giving up nine hits in seven-plus innings. He gave up solo homers to Casey and Vaughn in a span of three pitches.

Tony Gwynn, out of the lineup Wednesday because of a sore right hamstring, started and singled in four at-bats. Gwynn needs 29 hits to become the 22nd player to reach 3,000.

New York 7, Philadelphia 3--Roger Cedeno, the Mets’ leadoff batter while Rickey Henderson is on the disabled list, tied the club record with four steals at Philadelphia.

John Olerud became the 14th player to reach the right-field upper deck at Veterans Stadium with one of the Mets’ three homers. Robin Ventura and Edgardo Alfonzo also homered, and Masato Yoshii’s fastball was consistently clocked in the low 90s.

Coming off a four-hit game Tuesday in Colorado, Cedeno had two hits, scored three runs and disrupted the Phillies with his speed. After bunting for a single in the ninth, he stole second and third before scoring on Alfonzo’s infield single for the Mets’ last run.

New York scored four in the first on two-run homers by Olerud and Ventura off Chad Ogea, who has given up 11 homers in 44 innings. Ogea (2-3) lasted 4 1/3 innings, giving up six runs--five earned--and five hits, walking two and striking out three.

Colorado 4, Arizona 1--Vinny Castilla enhanced his reputation as a Diamondback killer with a two-run single in the Rockies’ four-run eighth inning at Phoenix.

Luis Gonzalez extended his hitting streak to 26 games for Arizona with a single in the sixth.

But Brian Bohannon (6-1) cooled Arizona’s bats and earned his first complete game and the Rockies’ second. The left-hander gave up six hits, struck out five and walked two in his fourth career complete game.

Last year, Castilla hit eight home runs off Arizona, the most by any player against the expansion team. He homered twice in the Diamondbacks first game on March 31, 1998.

Chicago 9, Atlanta 0--Jon Lieber had his first career shutout, holding the Braves to seven hits at Chicago.

Lieber (4-1) had the first complete game for the Cubs since July 18. He struck out seven and walked three to win his second consecutive start.

Sammy Sosa hit his ninth home run, a two-run shot off Tom Glavine.

Glavine, who had given up two earned runs in his last 20 1/3 innings after starting the season 0-3, gave up five runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings. That increased his ERA to 4.53. Glavine (2-4) walked three and struck out four. It was his first loss to the Cubs since Aug. 30, 1996.

Pittsburgh 5, Montreal 3--The Pirates’ Kris Benson gave up three hits in 8 1/3 innings and Warren Morris hit a tiebreaking home run in the fifth at Pittsburgh.

Al Martin had three hits with two runs and a run-scoring single in the eighth for the Pittsburgh, which won for the third time in the last 10 games. Montreal has lost four in a row.