Willis (7-0) Keeps Things Rolling

After throwing eight masterful innings, Dontrelle Willis lifted weights for half an hour.

His opponents certainly have no desire to see him get any stronger.

Willis improved to a major league-best 7-0 by giving up one run and six hits in eight innings, and Damion Easley’s two-run homer sent the Florida Marlins to a 2-1 victory Wednesday night over the Houston Astros at Miami.

How dominant has the high-kicking left-hander been this season? Willis, who has won all his starts, actually saw his earned-run average rise a bit to 1.08 -- despite keeping the Astros in check for most of the night. He threw 48 pitches through two innings, 62 in the next six.

“These games are key,” Willis said. “People put so much emphasis on September and August, but these games are key because we have to play well now to get to those key situations in September.”

Roy Oswalt (4-4) also was impressive, yielding two runs and five hits in 7 2/3 innings for Houston, now 2-16 on the road.

Morgan Ensberg had two hits and the lone run batted in for the Astros.

Willis, who struck out five and walked two, retired 18 of 19 Astros during one stretch before giving up a double by Ensberg in the eighth.

San Diego 7, Cincinnati 2 -- Tim Stauffer got a win in his debut at Cincinnati and Padre Manager Bruce Bochy got his 800th victory.

Ryan Klesko hit a three-run homer for the Padres, who won for the eighth time in 10 games. Only Bobby Cox, Joe Torre and Tony La Russa have more wins with their clubs than Bochy.

Milwaukee 5, Philadelphia 2 -- Junior Spivey’s three-run double off Ryan Madson in the eighth inning made the Brewers 9-3 on their homestand, the first time they won nine times during a homestand since going 9-1 from Sept. 18 to Sept. 27 in 1992.

Spivey sent a two-out, full-count fastball just over the glove of left fielder Pat Burrell to break a 2-2 tie and make a loser of Cory Lidle (2-3), who struck out a career-high 11 and retired 16 straight at one point. Doug Davis (4-4) got the win.

Arizona 3, Washington 2 -- Chad Tracy hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning to lift the Diamondbacks at Phoenix.

Javier Vazquez pitched seven solid innings for the Diamondbacks, who earned their second consecutive win over the Washington franchise, which had won 10 straight against Arizona over the last two years.

Pittsburgh 7, San Francisco 2 -- Ty Wigginton hit a tiebreaking two-run homer, Daryle Ward had a two-run shot, and Ray Sadler also homered for his first major league hit to lead the Pirates at San Francisco.

Josh Fogg (3-2) pitched seven strong innings on three days’ rest for Pittsburgh.

Colorado 6, Atlanta 5 -- Todd Greene hit a game-winning, bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth after the Braves had scored three runs in the top half of the inning at Denver.

Chicago 4, New York 3 -- Derrek Lee homered leading off the 10th inning to give the Cubs the win at Chicago.