MIAMI – Miguel Cabrera homered and drove in four runs, and Mike Lowell hit a tiebreaking double in the seventh inning that lifted the Florida Marlins over the New York Mets 8-6 Sunday.

The Marlins finished a three-game sweep and won for the ninth time in 11 games, but may have lost right-hander Josh Beckett, who left after 2 2-3 innings with a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand. A similar injury sent last year’s World Series MVP to the disabled list three times in the 2002 season.

Expos 6, Reds 2

MONTREAL – Moved up in the batting order, Tomo Ohka beat the Cincinnati Reds with his arm, not his bat.

Ohka became the first major league pitcher in more than five years to bat higher than ninth in the starting lineup and went hitless in two at-bats, but he worked 6 2-3 strong innings to lead the Montreal Expos to a 6-2 win over the Reds.

With his team having lost eight of nine, Expos manager Frank Robinson batted Ohka eighth in the lineup “to try something different.” He moved Jamey Carroll, who was hitting .256 coming in, to the ninth spot. Ohka was hitting .118.

Giants 3, Rockies 1

SAN FRANCISCO – Jason Schmidt provided the perfect sendoff for San Francisco’s longest road trip in 15 years, taking a shutout into the ninth inning to lead the Giants to their ninth straight win, 3-1 over the Colorado Rockies.

Michael Tucker hit a two-run homer and Pedro Feliz went 3-for-3 with an RBI for the Giants, who have a winning record for the first time since April 14.

Phillies 4, Braves 1

PHILADELPHIA – Eric Milton pitched seven strong innings in his longest outing of the season and Jim Thome hit his 12th home run of the season to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 4-1 win over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday.

Milton (6-1) gave up one run on three hits, striking out a season-high eight batters and walking three.

Astros 7, Cardinals 1

HOUSTON – Mike Lamb, Jeff Bagwell and Lance Berkman hit two-run homers Sunday, leading the Houston Astros over the St. Louis Cardinals 7-1.

Albert Pujols hit his major league-leading 15th homer for St. Louis, a ninth-inning drive that gave him six homers in his last eight games.

Cubs 12, Pirates 1

PITTSBURGH – Derrek Lee broke a 1-for-20 slide with three hits and four RBIs, and the Chicago Cubs routed the Pittsburgh Pirates 12-1 Sunday to stop a five-game losing streak.

Carlos Zambrano (5-2) struck out eight in six innings to beat Pittsburgh for the third time this season, helping end Chicago’s longest skid since Sept. 22-27, 2002. He allowed one run and eight hits, walked three and hit three batters.

Padres 5, Brewers 2

MILWAUKEE – Brian Giles had a two-run triple and Phil Nevin homered to help Ismael Valdez win for the first time in over a month, leading the San Diego Padres over the Milwaukee Brewers 5-2 Sunday.

Valdez (4-2) allowed nine hits and two runs in seven innings as he won for the first time since April 27.

against Montreal. He had two losses and three no-decisions since winning his first three starts.

Valdez helped his cause with an RBI ground-rule double with two outs in the sixth inning to make it 5-1.

Trevor Hoffman pitched the ninth for his 14th save in 15 opportunities.

Milwaukee failed to score more than three runs for the eighth time in nine games. The Brewers beat San Diego 4-3 on Saturday getting just four hits.

Victor Santos (2-2) lost his second straight start as he gave up eight hits and five runs in six innings.

Giles’ two-run triple to the wall in deep center in the third inning put San Diego ahead 3-1. Giles drove in Sean Burroughs and Jeff Cirillo, who both singled. Nevin’s fifth homer of the season, with two outs in the fifth, gave the Padres a 4-1 lead.

Terrence Long had an RBI triple in the second to tie the game 1-all after Milwaukee’s Craig Counsell scored from third on an infield out by Geoff Jenkins for a 1-0 lead in the first.

Counsell’s RBI double in the seventh inning pulled the Brewers to 5-2 and chased Valdez. Scott Linebrink relieved Valdez with no one out but retired the side.

Notes: Brewer outfielder Jenkins extended his errorless streak to 181 games. The streak began June 4, 2002, against the Cubs. Fans at the game received a Jenkins bobblehead doll. … Santos had a single in the fourth inning for his first hit of the season and second of his career. … The Padres ended their 12-game road trip with a 7-5 record. They return home Monday against Colorado. … Valdez’s last start against Milwaukee was one to forget. On August 6, 2000, he gave up seven runs in 1 1-3 innings for Los Angeles.

AP-ES-05-30-04 1713EDT