Martinez Sharp, Mets Hot

Pedro Martinez took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and Victor Diaz homered and added a sacrifice fly to lead the New York Mets to a 3-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday night at Phoenix.

The Mets completed their first four-game sweep in more than two years and have won eight of their last 10 to move within 1 1/2 games of Philadelphia in the National League wild-card race. Arizona has lost five in a row to drop 6 1/2 games behind San Diego in the NL West.

Martinez (13-5) ended his two-game losing streak, limiting Arizona to two hits in six innings. He had six strikeouts to pass Mickey Lolich for 15th place on the career list with 2,835.

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St. Louis 6, Pittsburgh 3 -- Jim Edmonds and Albert Pujols homered in the first for St. Louis in Pittsburgh, and Tony La Russa passed Sparky Anderson to move into third place on the manager wins list with 2,195, trailing only Connie Mack (3,731) and John McGraw (2,763).

Matt Morris (14-5) gave up two runs and nine hits in seven innings, improving to 6-0 at Pittsburgh in seven starts, and Jason Isringhausen got four outs for his 34th save.

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Cincinnati 5, Washington 3 -- Ken Griffey Jr. reached 30 homers in a season for the first time since 2000 and Brandon Claussen won his fifth consecutive decision.

Cincinnati won seven of its first 35 on the road, but the Reds are 16-7 since, including taking two of three in Washington. On June 30, the Nationals were a majors-best 30-13 at RFK Stadium, but since then they’ve gone 6-14 and lost five of six home series.

Claussen (9-8) gave up one unearned run, six hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings.

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Florida 3, Milwaukee 1 -- Juan Pierre hit a tiebreaking single off Jose Capellan with two out in the 10th, stole his 42nd base and scored on Jeff Conine’s single in Milwaukee.

Antonio Alfonseca (1-1) got the win with a perfect ninth inning, and Todd Jones pitched the 10th for his 29th save.

Brewer left-hander Doug Davis was denied his 10th win for the 12th consecutive time despite giving up one earned run and five hits in seven innings.

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Junior achievement

Ken Griffey Jr. has hit 30 homers this season to vault from 20th to 14th on the all-time home run list.

*--* PLAYER HOME RUNS 1. Hank Aaron 755 2. Babe Ruth 714 3. Barry Bonds * 703 4. Willie Mays 660 5. Sammy Sosa * 588 6. Frank Robinson 586 7. Mark McGwire 583 8. Harmon Killebrew 573 9. Rafael Palmeiro* 569 10. Reggie Jackson 563 11. Mike Schmidt 548 12. Mickey Mantle 536 13. Jimmie Foxx 534 14. Ken Griffey Jr. * 531

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