Winn Brings Giants Closer to the Padres

Randy Winn hit a tying, two-out triple against Trevor Hoffman in the ninth inning, J.T. Snow hit a go-ahead single two batters later and San Francisco defeated San Diego, 3-2, Monday night at Petco Park to pull within three games of the National League West-leading Padres.

The Padres had been within one out of reducing their magic number for clinching the division title to two but Hoffman blew a save for the third time in 44 chances, and had his streak of 38 consecutive saves ended.

San Diego’s magic number remains four with six games to play.

This is the closest the Giants have been since May 14, when they were three games behind Arizona and the Dodgers.

The Padres fell to 77-79, the latest in a season a team has led a division with a losing record.

*

Washington 4, Florida 0 -- Cristian Guzman had three hits and three runs batted in and Hector Carrasco (5-3) pitched six strong innings at Miami to put the Marlins on the brink of playoff elimination.

Disgruntled Marlin right-hander A.J. Burnett was sent home before the game, slugger Miguel Cabrera was benched for disciplinary reasons and Jack McKeon hinted he won’t return as manager in 2006.

Burnett said Sunday that the team plays scared because McKeon and the coaching staff are too negative. General Manager Larry Beinfest said Burnett was not suspended and would be paid for the remainder of the season.

*

New York 6, Philadelphia 5 -- The host Phillies unraveled with bad defense and a shaky bullpen in the eighth inning, when the Mets rallied for four runs to drop the Phillies 1 1/2 games behind Houston in the NL wild-card race.

*

Colorado 6, Atlanta 5 -- Todd Greene hit a three-run homer in the top of the eighth inning, preventing the NL East-leading Braves from clinching their 14th consecutive division title. The Braves have clinched at least a tie.

*

Milwaukee 12, Cincinnati 9 -- Carlos Lee drove in two runs to match his career high with 113 RBIs and the Brewers rallied for five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to reach 78 victories for the first time since 1997.