By The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Tuesday, September 19, 2006; 5:29 AM
-- When things looked bleak for the Los Angeles Dodgers, they found their power stroke. The Dodgers hit four consecutive homers in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game, and Nomar Garciaparra's two-run drive in the 10th lifted Los Angeles to an 11-10 victory over the San Diego Padres on Monday night.
On a night when the New York Mets clinched the NL East title, the Dodgers moved back into first place in the NL West, a half-game ahead of the Padres.
"That was the greatest game I've ever seen. I've never seen anything like that," Dodgers reliever Brett Tomko said.
After Los Angeles tied it in the ninth with four straight homers _ just the fourth time that's happened in major league history _ the Padres went ahead on Brian Giles' double and Josh Bard's two-out single off Aaron Sele (8-6).
But Rudy Seanez (1-2) walked Kenny Lofton to begin the bottom half, and Garciaparra followed by hitting his 18th homer deep into the left-field pavilion.
In other NL games, it was: New York 4, Florida 0; Chicago 11, Philadelphia 6; Milwaukee 4, St. Louis 3; Houston 5, Cincinnati 3; Colorado 20, San Francisco 8; and Atlanta 6, Washington 1.
At Los Angeles, Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew opened the ninth with homers off San Diego's Jon Adkins. Russell Martin and Marlon Anderson then connected on the first two pitches thrown by Trevor Hoffman, who entered with 475 career saves _ three shy of Lee Smith's major league record.
The last time a team hit four consecutive homers was on May 2, 1964, when the Minnesota Twins accomplished the feat against Kansas City in the 11th inning.
"It was a great baseball game _ two good teams going at it. They got the last big hit," Giles said.
Anderson had a career-high five hits, and Kent had four for Los Angeles.
"I can't explain it. It's absolutely the most wonderful night of my career, for sure," Anderson said. "And to be able to do it on this stage _ in a pennant race _ it was awesome. The guys pulled together and stuck together. That was absolutely the most wonderful game I've ever seen in my life at any level."
Mets 4, Marlins 0
The Mets ended nearly two decades of disappointment in their division and days of delay, clinching the NL East for the first time since 1988.
Jose Valentin homered twice and Steve Trachsel (15-7) combined with three relievers on a four-hitter.
Fireworks shot off from behind the center-field wall at Shea Stadium when Cliff Floyd caught Josh Willingham's fly ball to left for the final out. The Mets rushed to the center of the diamond to celebrate.
Brian Moehler (7-9) got the loss.
Cubs 11, Phillies 6
Aramis Ramirez homered twice and drove in a career-best seven runs for the visiting Cubs.
Pinch-hitter Jose Hernandez hit a grand slam in the fourth inning to bring Philadelphia within two runs after trailing 8-0, but five Cubs relievers held the Phillies scoreless over the last five innings.
Ramirez went 4-for-5 and Juan Pierre and Scott Moore hit solo homers for Chicago.
The Phillies are 1 1/2 games behind the wild card-leading Padres.
Michael Wuertz (3-1) tossed two perfect innings to get the win.
Ramirez hit three-run homers in the first inning off Jon Lieber (8-10) and in the fourth off Eude Brito.
Brewers 4, Cardinals 3
Tony Graffanino singled in the winning run in the ninth inning for the Brewers.
Albert Pujols hit a three-run drive for his 46th homer for the visiting Cardinals, whose magic number in the NL Central was lowered to seven when Cincinnati lost 5-3 to the Houston Astros.
Damian Miller singled off Braden Looper (9-2) to start the ninth for Milwaukee. Drew Anderson pinch ran for him and advanced on Jeff Cirillo's sacrifice. Graffanino singled to left and Anderson beat the throw home.
Francisco Cordero (2-0) pitched one perfect inning to get the win.
Astros 5, Reds 3
Roy Oswalt pitched 6 2-3 innings to continue his mastery of Cincinnati.
Oswalt (14-8) allowed two runs and eight hits to improve his career record to 17-1 against Cincinnati. He struck out eight and didn't walk a batter before departing with muscle spasms in his neck.
Oswalt is 5-0 with a no-decision in his last six starts. He said after the game that the neck problems were "no big deal."
Ray Olmedo and Todd Hollandsworth had pinch-hit homers for visiting Cincinnati.
Dan Wheeler pitched the ninth for his sixth save in eight chances.
Reds starter Kyle Lohse (2-4) gave up four runs and six hits in six innings.
Rockies 20, Giants 8
Jeff Baker hit two three-run homers, Garrett Atkins also drove in six runs and Justin Hampson won in his first major league start.
The Rockies, who had a season-high 19 hits, tied the club record for runs, reaching 20 for the third time, the last on Sept. 20, 2005, against San Diego.
Hampson (1-0) allowed six runs and 10 hits in five innings.
The Giants fell 4 1/2 games behind Los Angeles in the NL West and four games behind San Diego in the wild-card race.
Baker's first homer highlighted a six-run first inning against Giants starter Noah Lowry (7-10).
Braves 6, Nationals 1
At Washington, Andruw Jones hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the sixth inning and Kyle Davies won for the first time since April 30.
Atlanta won for the fourth time in five games. Daryle Ward also had a pinch-hit, three-run homer in the eighth inning in his first appearance against the Nationals since they traded him to the Braves on Aug. 31.
Davies (3-5) allowed one run and four hits, struck out five and walked two. He was removed after allowing a leadoff single in the sixth inning.
Tony Armas (8-12) fell to 0-4 in his last six starts.