Hamels, Sabathia Notch 6th Wins; Brewers Lose 4th Straight

Wednesday's Peak Performers and Fabulous Flops American League The Cleveland Indians pulled to within 1/2-game of idle Detroit with a 7-1 win over the visiting Minnesota Twins. C. C. Sabathia (right) kept the Twins' bats in check, working 8 innings for his 6th win against 1 loss. Sabathia gave up just 5 hits, a walk and 1 earned run while fanning 5. The Yankees and White Sox split a pair in Chicago, the Sox winning the day game, 5-3 and the Yankees coming back in the nightcap for an 8-1 win. Hideki Matsui accounted for 4 RBI in the second game, doubling in a pair with a double in the 3rd inning and singling home 2 more in the 9th. He added another single to finish the night 3-5. The Yanks got a welcome strong pitching performance in that game from Chien-Ming Wang, who scattered 6 hits and a walk over 7 innings, allowing just one earned run. Other AL Scores Toronto 2 Baltimore 1 - A.J. Burnett (W, 4-3) 9 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB,10 K Detroit @ Boston, rained out Tampa Bay 11 Texas 8 - V. Padilla (L, 1-6), 4 IP, 12 H, 8 ER Kansas City 4 Oakland 3 LA Angels 5 Seattle 0 - J. Lackey (W, 6-3) 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER National League The Phillies have taken three straight from the previously-hot Milwaukee Brewers and will look to sweep their 4-game series this afternoon in Philly. On Wednesday night, Cole Hamels (right) took a perfect game into the 7th inning, but a walk and J. J. Hardy's 13th home run changed that tune. Still, the Phils had staked their ace to a comfortable lead, and Hamels ended up allowing just 2 hits and 2 runs over 8 innings for the 6-2 win. Striking out 11 Brewers gave Hamels 70 on the year, one shy of Jake Peavy's MLB-leading total. The win got the Phillies to .500 (20-20) and Hamels to 6-1, tying him with Houston's Roy Oswalt for the NL wins lead. The Brewers have dropped 4 straight and 5 of their last 6, all on the road. Meanwhile, the Houston Astros have won 4 straight and clawed to within 4 1/2 games of the NL Central leaders. The NY Mets took back a slim 1/2-game lead in the NL East over Atlanta with an 8-1 win over the visiting Chicago Cubs. Jorge Sosa stifled the Cubs on 1 hit and 3 walks but walked Cesar Izturis to open the 8th inning and was lifted for reliever Joe Smith, who got two outs before surrendering a single to Cliff Floyd which plated Izturis with the Cubs' only run. Sosa, who has notched wins in each of his 3 starts, walked 3 and struck out 5, lowering his ERA to 2.25 and his WHIP to a ridiculous 0.85. Arizona's Brandon Webb pitched pretty well to most of the Colorado lineup, but couldn't keep Brad Hawpe in the yard, as the Rockies' right fielder touched him up for a pair of homers - a solo shot in the 4th and a 3-run blast in the 6th which sent Webb (3-3) to the showers and propelled the Rockies to a 5-3 home win. Other NL Scores Washington 6 Atlanta 4 LA Dodgers 5 St. Louis 4 - K. Wells (L, 1-8) 5 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 6 BB; R. Furcal, 1-4 San Diego 3 Cincinnati 2 Florida 4 Pittsburgh 3 Houston 2 San Francisco 1