MILWAUKEE – Juan Encarnacion hit a two-run homer and Carl Pavano picked up his career-high ninth victory as the Florida Marlins beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-3 Friday night.
Mike Lowell also drove in two runs for the Marlins, who beat the Brewers for the sixth time in seven games this season. Pavano (9-10) allowed two runs on five hits in six innings while walking one and striking out seven. The Marlins improved to 19-4 in series openers since May 23.
Braves 7, Cardinals 2
ST. LOUIS – Russ Ortiz worked into the ninth inning to become the second 16-game winner in the major leagues and the Atlanta Braves hit four home runs in a 7-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals .
Astros 5, Expos 1
HOUSTON – Lance Berkman hit a RBI double and made a big defensive play that helped Jeriome Robertson and the Houston Astros beat the Montreal Expos 5-1. The Expos lost their fourth game in a row.
Robertson (11-5) had a six-game winning streak prior to losing his last two decisions. He pitched 6 1-3 innings and allowed five hits and one run.
with the Marlins, surpassing Jeff Conine’s franchise mark. He added a RBI single in the sixth.
The Marlins scored three times in the fourth following an error by second baseman Eric Young, who overthrew the 6-foot-8 Sexson at first base while trying to complete a double play.
The error put Ivan Rodriguez at second base with one out, and Lowell drove him home with a single up the middle. Encarnacion, who was 0-for-9 lifetime against Sheets, followed with his 13th homer for a 3-1 lead.
Geoff Jenkins made it 3-2 with a homer in the bottom half, his 22nd of the season and first since July 17 at Pittsburgh.
Lowell’s second RBI single made it 4-2, and Sheets’ wild pitch scored Rodriguez from third later on in the sixth.
John Vander Wal, who scored Milwaukee’s first run on Keith Osik’s groundout in the second, hit his 13th homer in the seventh to pull the Brewers to 5-3 in the seventh.
Notes: Hall of Fame announcer Bob Uecker will miss several Brewers games to have double knee replacement surgery on Monday. Uecker, 69, had hoped to delay the operation until after the season but the pain has become intolerable. “If it wasn’t painful, I wouldn’t do it,” Uecker said. “I don’t fish. I don’t do anything. It’s not fun anymore.” … RHP Mike Jones, the Brewers’ first-round pick (12th overall) in 2001, will miss the final month of the Double-A season with a tender right elbow. … Marlins 1B Derrek Lee missed his second straight start with a sore right shoulder, which he injured on July 28 in a game against Arizona. He was a defensive replacement in the bottom of the ninth.
AP-ES-08-08-03 2248EDT
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