Giants Don’t Give an Inch

Livan Hernandez pitched a two-hitter and Reggie Sanders homered twice, and the streaking San Francisco Giants defeated the San Diego Padres, 6-0, Wednesday night to maintain their lead in the National League wild-card race.

The Giants, who won their fifth in a row, remained three games ahead of the Dodgers in the wild-card race.

San Francisco pulled within two games of NL West-leading Arizona. The Giants play three games at home with Houston this weekend, and also have a possible makeup game at Atlanta.

Sanders hit a two-run homer just inside the left-field foul pole in the third inning against Clay Condrey (1-2).

Sanders hit his 23rd homer, a solo shot, in the fifth against reliever Kevin Walker.

Hernandez (12-16) gave up a second-inning single to Phil Nevin and a single to Mark Kotsay in the seventh on the way to his third shutout this season and the fifth of his career.

The right-hander has never lost to the Padres at Pacific Bell Park, going 5-0 in seven starts.

Giant third baseman David Bell made several great plays on the night he was named the 2002 “Willie Mac” award winner, which is voted on by the team for the most inspirational player. It was established in 1980 in honor of Hall of Famer Willie McCovey.

St. Louis 6, Arizona 1--Scott Rolen and J.D. Drew each hit three-run homers to help the Cardinals beat Curt Schilling at St. Louis.

The Cardinals swept the three-game series and have won 18 of 21. Arizona has lost a season-high six in a row.

Schilling (23-7) struck out 12 and walked one in eight innings.

The sweep left the Diamondbacks and Cardinals each with 94-64 records with four games remaining in the regular season. The teams appear headed for a best-of-five, first-round playoff series, and the team with the best record gets home-field advantage. If they remain tied, the Cardinals get the nod based on their 4-2 season series record against Arizona.

Atlanta 7, Philadelphia 1--Andruw Jones hit three homers at Philadelphia, then was left on deck before getting another chance to bat.

It was Jones’ first three-homer game. He has five multiple-homer games this season and three this month.

The last Atlanta player to hit three homers in a game had been Jeff Blauser against Chicago in 1992.

Damian Moss (12-6) gave up one run and five hits in 6 2/3 innings to win for the sixth time in seven decisions.

Houston 7, Milwaukee 5--Daryle Ward homered twice, and pinch-hitter Morgan Ensberg hit a tiebreaking single in the fifth inning to rally the host Astros from a four-run deficit.

Ensberg was the Astros’ starting third baseman at the beginning of the season, but batted only .236 and was sent to triple-A in early June. He was called up this month and has gone two for three in limited playing time.

Cincinnati 8, Chicago 2--The Reds, not Sammy Sosa, put on the home run show, hitting four at Wrigley Field.

Sosa remains stuck at 498 career homers. He was hitless in four at-bats. Sosa needs two homers in the Cubs’ last four games to become the first player in major league history with five 50-homer seasons.

Russell Branyan, Juan Castro, Kelly Stinnett and Todd Walker homered for the Reds.

Pittsburgh 4, New York 3--Aramis Ramirez hit a tiebreaking homer at Pittsburgh and the Pirates held on for their sixth victory in the last eight games.

Mike Williams pitched a perfect ninth for his 46th save in 50 opportunities.

Ramirez, who was in a 3-for-45 slump, hit a 2-and-1 pitch from reliever Grant Roberts (3-1) into the center-field seats in the sixth inning.

The Mets had tied the score, 3-3, in the top of the inning on a home run by Mike Piazza, his 32nd, and a two-run drive by Edgardo Alfonzo, his 16th.

Florida 10, Montreal 2--Derek Lee had three hits and Ramon Castro homered, and the Marlins took advantage of six errors at Montreal.

Montreal’s Vladimir Guerrero went hitless in two at-bats and walked twice to remain one home run short of a 40-homer, 40-steal season.