PITTSBURGH — J.J. Hardy drove in four runs on three hits and Milwaukee beat Pittsburgh 8-5 on Tuesday night for its 17th consecutive victory over the Pirates, the majors’ longest winning streak by one team against another in nearly 40 years.
The Brewers’ domination of the Pirates is the longest since Baltimore won 23 consecutive games against Kansas City during the 1969 (11) and 1970 (12) seasons. The Pirates haven’t beaten the Brewers since May 22, 2008.
Hardy was 3 of 27 before reaching base four times on two run-scoring singles, an RBI double and a walk to help Milwaukee open a 6-2 lead in the sixth behind Jeff Suppan (2-2). He labored through 5 2-3 innings to improve to 13-3 against the Pirates in his career and 6-0 in his last eight starts.
Ian Snell (1-4) gave up five runs and four hits and walked five in five-plus innings.
Reds 7, Marlins 0
MIAMI — Brandon Phillips tied a career high with six RBIs and Edinson Volquez allowed three hits in eight innings for Cincinnati.
Nick Masset pitched a perfect ninth to complete the Reds’ sixth shutout this season, and their fourth in the past six games. Volquez (4-2) extended a personal streak of 16 1-3 consecutive scoreless innings.
Phillips had three hits, including a three-run homer, his fourth. He hiked his average from .205 to .226.
Shortstop Jerry Hairston Jr. singled, doubled, walked, stole a base, scored three times and threw out a runner at the plate. Joey Votto reached base in all five plate appearances. He had two singles, walked three times, drove in a run and scored twice.
Florida’s Chris Volstad (2-1) gave up four runs, three earned, in six innings.
Mets 4, Braves 3
ATLANTA — Livan Hernandez earned his fourth win in 25 career starts against Atlanta and New York completed a rare series sweep at Turner Field.
The Mets won two games for their first sweep of any series in Atlanta since winning three games in 2007.
David Wright and Ramon Castro had run-scoring doubles in the third inning off Kenshin Kawakami (1-4), who lost his fourth straight start. Carlos Delgado had two hits, including a two-run single in the ninth.
Hernandez (2-1) gave up seven hits and one run in 6 1-3 innings. He improved to 4-15 in his career against the Braves with his first win against Atlanta since June 5, 2006, while with the Nationals.
Hernandez was helped by three double plays which ended the third, fourth and sixth innings.
Phillies 10, Cardinals 7
ST. LOUIS — Shane Victorino was 4 for 5 with a home run and three RBIs and Jayson Werth had a three-run shot and four RBIs for Philadelphia.
Ryan Ludwick and Yadier Molina hit solo homers in a span of three at-bats to help St. Louis cut the deficit to 4-3 in the fourth. Werth answered with a three-run shot in the fifth off Adam Wainwright (3-1).
Albert Pujols hit his 10th homer in the ninth off Brad Lidge, his lone hit in eight at-bats in the series.
Brett Myers (2-2) won for the first time in four starts despite allowing five runs on nine hits in 5 1-3 innings. The Phillies led three times by four runs, finally putting away the Cardinals in the seventh on RBI singles by Ryan Howard and Pedro Feliz.
Wainwright allowed seven runs and nine hits in six innings.
Giants 6, Cubs 2
CHICAGO — Tim Lincecum allowed four hits over seven innings and Bengie Molina hit a three-run homer for San Francisco.
Lincecum (3-1) struck out seven and walked two in ending the Cubs’ four-game winning streak.
Resting five regulars against Lincecum, the 2008 NL Cy Young winner, Cubs manager Lou Piniella went with a lineup featuring six players who were in the minors as recently as 2007.
Among those starting for the Cubs was Bobby Scales, a 31-year-old infielder making his big league debut after spending 11 years in the minors.
Scales, who supplements his income by working as a substitute teacher during the offseason, singled in the fifth inning and scored on a single by pitcher Sean Marshall (0-2).
Scales ended up going 1 for 4 and struck out to end the game.
Nationals 10, Astros 10, 11 innings, susp.
WASHINGTON — A sloppy matchup between Washington and Houston wound up without a winner when the game was suspended by rain with the score tied at 10 in the bottom of the 11th inning.
Because the Astros aren’t scheduled to return to Washington this season, the game will be resumed July 9 in Houston with the Nationals as the home team.
Cristian Guzman hit a two-run homer in the eighth that put the Nationals ahead 10-9. The Astros tied it in the ninth on Geoff Blum’s sacrifice fly.
Astros ace Roy Oswalt left in the sixth inning with a bone bruise on his right index finger. Oswalt, still winless after seven starts this season, hurt his pitching hand while bunting and said he might skip a bullpen session between starts.
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