Marlins’ Willis Earns Eighth Win

Dontrelle Willis became the first eight-game winner in the National League, and Carlos Delgado and Miguel Cabrera hit consecutive home runs Monday night to carry the Florida Marlins to their season-high fifth consecutive victory with a 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies at Miami.

Willis (8-1) gave up two runs and seven hits in eight innings, bouncing back from his only loss.

“I tried to focus on the positives tonight, and that was the key,” Willis said.

In nine starts, Willis has a 1.55 earned-run average and is 6-0 at home with an 0.96 ERA.

Delgado and Cabrera extended their hitting streaks to 12 games for the NL East-leading Marlins.

Jon Lieber (5-4) matched Willis pitch for pitch and carried a 1-0 lead into the sixth inning before serving up the home runs to Delgado and Cabrera.

St. Louis 4, Pittsburgh 2 -- Chris Carpenter (7-2) gave up four hits in seven innings, and Albert Pujols’ two-run double in the bottom of the sixth helped the Cardinals beat the Pirates for the 10th consecutive time.

Manager Tony La Russa earned his 822nd victory in his 10th season with the Cardinals, tying him with Whitey Herzog for second on the franchise list. La Russa reached the milestone in 1,501 games, 49 fewer than Herzog.

Atlanta 8, New York 6 -- Marcus Giles hit a three-run homer, and Rafael Furcal had a bases-loaded triple for the host Braves.

Horacio Ramirez (3-3) pitched seven innings and drew a bases-loaded walk that sparked the Braves.

Dan Kolb gave up a leadoff homer to Chris Woodward in the ninth, then struck out Mike Cameron with runners at second and third to end the game and earn his 11th save in 14 chances. Kolb got all three outs on strikeouts.

Left-hander Kazuhisa Ishii (0-3) lasted only four innings.

Chicago 4, Houston 1 -- Corey Patterson and Jeromy Burnitz homered to back Glendon Rusch (3-1), who gave up five hits in eight innings at Chicago.

The Astros’ sixth consecutive loss dropped their road record to 2-20, worst in the major leagues.

Burnitz’s two-run drive in the sixth came against Wandy Rodriguez (0-1), who made his big league debut.

Cincinnati 5, Washington 3 -- Slumping Jason LaRue had three hits, including a solo homer, to help lift the host Reds.

Left-hander Eric Milton (3-5) pitched a season-high eight innings and even contributed two hits. Milton had not won since April 16 and had lost his previous four decisions.

Milwaukee 2, Colorado 1 -- Chris Capuano gave up three hits in 8 1/3 innings, matching his longest career outing, and the Brewers sent the Rockies to their 27th loss in 31 road games dating to last season.

Capuano (4-3) gave up an unearned run -- when he balked home a runner -- and was lifted after hitting Matt Holliday with a pitch.

Shawn Chacon (1-4) sprained his right ankle returning to first base on a pickoff throw and had to leave.