Greene, Padres Defeat Cubs

Khalil Greene turned a long, rainy day in Chicago into a satisfying victory for the San Diego Padres.

“When you’re involved in a game like that, it’s kind of emotional as well,” Greene said after his 11th-inning single sent the Padres past the Chicago Cubs, 5-4, on Thursday.

The game was delayed twice by rain for a total of 78 minutes.

The Padres moved within a game of the Cubs for the National League wild-card lead.

“This is a team we will be battling, and it’s important we came in here and got a couple of wins,” Padre Manager Bruce Bochy said.

The Padres tied the score at 4-4 in the eighth on Brian Giles’ run-scoring single off Mike Remlinger after Nomar Garciaparra had hit a two-run homer in the seventh.

Padre Phil Nevin, who didn’t start because of flu, singled to start the 11th, moved to second on a sacrifice and to third on a bunt single by Ramon Hernandez. Greene singled Nevin home off Ryan Dempster (0-1).

Ricky Stone (2-2) pitched a scoreless 10th for the win. Trevor Hoffman got his 31st save.

San Francisco 7, Pittsburgh 0 -- Jason Schmidt pitched a four-hitter with 11 strikeouts at Pittsburgh for his league-leading 15th win.

Edgardo Alfonzo, Marquis Grissom and Michael Tucker each drove in two runs to help the Giants avoid a season sweep by Pittsburgh. Barry Bonds had an RBI double.

Ryan Vogelsong (3-9), whom the Giants traded to the Pirates for Schmidt, lasted five innings and has not won a home game since he beat the Phillies on opening day.

Schmidt (15-4) walked one and gave up four singles. He and Oakland’s Mark Mulder are the majors’ only 15-game winners.

Florida 8, St. Louis 2 -- A.J. Burnett pitched seven innings and Damion Easley drove in three runs at Miami, as the Marlins scored four unearned runs and two others that were tainted by Cardinal misplays behind Matt Morris (12-8).

Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa gave many of his starters the day off.

Burnett (3-5) gave up five hits and two runs and struck out seven. Larry Walker hit his first home run since joining the Cardinals last week, and his seventh of the season.

New York 2, Houston 1 -- Andy Pettitte gave up only one run in his return to New York but didn’t make it out of the sixth inning and failed to get a decision.

The Mets went ahead in the seventh inning off David Weathers (6-7) when Danny Garcia doubled and scored on Joe McEwing’s two-out single.

Victor Zambrano (2-0) won his second consecutive start since the Mets acquired him from Tampa Bay on July 30.

Atlanta 4, Milwaukee 2 -- Jaret Wright (11-5) won his ninth decision in a row and J.D. Drew hit a go-ahead homer at Atlanta.

Andruw Jones and Johnny Estrada also connected off Ben Sheets (9-9), who struck out 13 in eight innings and had fanned 18 Braves during a game in May.

Sheets fell to 0-4 in six starts since the break.

Colorado 3, Philadelphia 1 -- Shawn Estes (13-4) gave up one run in six innings and Royce Clayton hit a two-run homer at Philadelphia.

The left-handed Estes, who won his fifth in a row, gave up four hits and struck out three.

Clayton gave the Rockies a 2-0 lead in the third inning with his eighth homer, a two-run shot to left off Cory Lidle (7-11) in his Phillie debut.

Montreal 7, Arizona 5 -- Tony Batista hit his 20th homer and drove in four runs at Montreal as the Expos won their fifth in a row, including a three-game sweep of the Diamondbacks, and sent Arizona to its seventh consecutive loss.

Luis Ayala (4-7) gave up one hit in two scoreless innings of relief after Expo starter Rocky Biddle was chased in the fourth inning.