Millwood Does the Job for Phillies

Kevin Millwood knew how to stop the Philadelphia Phillies’ losing streak.

Millwood gave up only three hits in eight innings and the Phillies ended a skid at six games Friday night with a 7-0 victory over the New York Mets at Shea Stadium.

Pat Burrell hit a two-run homer for Philadelphia, which improved to 2-9 on its 13-game road trip. The Phillies are tied with Florida for the wild-card lead.

Millwood (13-9) gave up singles to Timo Perez in the first inning, rookie Jose Reyes in the sixth and Ty Wigginton in the seventh.

“Everybody knows what we have to do,” Millwood said. “I got by on stuff that I didn’t think was extraordinary. The fastball was OK, slider was OK. I used the curveball more than usual and I even got a guy out on a changeup -- and that never happens.”

San Diego 7, Houston 1 -- Mark Loretta and Phil Nevin homered, leading Adam Eaton and the Padres at Houston. The loss left the Astros tied for the Central Division lead with St. Louis.

Eaton (8-9) gave up a solo homer to Jeff Bagwell, his 31st, in the first inning and then shut down the Astros. He gave up six hits in seven innings. He walked two and didn’t allow a runner to reach third after Bagwell’s homer.

The Padres improved their record at Minute Maid Park to 10-3 and prevented Jeriome Robertson (12-7) from setting the Astro rookie record for victories by a left-hander.

Cincinnati 8, St. Louis 5 -- Tim Hummel hit a pinch-hit two-run single in the sixth inning as the Reds rallied for five runs at Cincinnati and cost the Cardinals a chance to move into first place in the Central Division. Instead, they remained tied for the lead with Houston, a half-game ahead of the Chicago Cubs.

Chicago 4, Milwaukee 2 -- Matt Clement (12-11) gave up seven hits and one earned run, walked none and retired 10 in a row at one point at Wrigley Field as the Cubs ended the Brewers’ 10-game winning streak.

The 10-game streak was Milwaukee’s longest since moving to the National League in 1998. The last time the Brewers won more than 10 in a row was during its club-record 13-game run in 1987.

Arizona 5, San Francisco 2 -- Shea Hillenbrand and Junior Spivey drove in two runs apiece at Phoenix as the Diamondbacks remained a game behind wild-card leaders Florida and Philadelphia.

Miguel Batista (9-7) worked six innings to become the first Diamondback pitcher with nine victories.

Kirk Rueter (7-5) fell to 0-4 in his last nine starts. He gave up five runs and seven hits before being removed after facing two batters in the fifth.

Pittsburgh 6, Atlanta 5 -- Jose Hernandez’s bases-loaded single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth gave the Pirates their fourth consecutive victory.

The Braves had tied it, 5-5, in the top of the ninth on Chipper Jones’ RBI single off Julian Tavarez (3-3), who pitched the final three innings.

Will Cunnane (0-1) walked Jack Wilson to start the ninth. Carlos Rivera singled with one out. After Reggie Sanders was intentionally walked to load the bases, Jason Bay flied to short left as the runners held. Hernandez then singled up the middle.