Defiance's Billingsley wins first for L.A.
5/1/2008MIAMI - Defiance native Chad Billingsley pitched seven innings for his first victory of the season, and Rafael Furcal had a career-high five hits for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who extended their winning streak to five games by beating the Florida Marlins, 13-1 last night.
Furcal went 5-for-6 with a double, giving him 17 extra-base hits, the most by a Dodger at the end of April since the team moved to Los Angeles in 1958. Furcal's average rose to .381.
Billingsley (1-4), a first-round draft pick of the Dodgers in 2003, allowed three hits and one run to lower his ERA from 6.53 to 5.20.
D'BACKS 8, ASTROS 7: At Phoenix, pitcher Micah Owings' pinch-hit homer tied the game in the sixth and Arizona rallied from four runs down to beat Houston.
GIANTS 3, ROCKIES 2: At San Francisco, Jose Castillo ended a 450 at-bat homerless drought with a tiebreaking shot to lead off the seventh inning, and Fred Lewis preserved the lead with a diving catch in the eighth that sent San Francisco to a win over the Colorado Rockies.
PIRATES 13, METS 1: At New York, Oliver Perez couldn't find the plate, Luis Castillo couldn't find the ball, and Jose Reyes couldn't find second base. Pittsburgh took advantage of a sloppy performance by New York, scoring nine unearned runs in a win.
CARDINALS 5, REDS 2: At St. Louis, Braden Looper worked six solid innings and Rick Ankiel had three hits and two RBIs, handing St. Louis pitcher Aaron Harang another tough luck loss.
NATIONALS 3, BRAVES 2: At Washington, Atlanta simply cannot win a one-run game. Felipe Lopez's bases-loaded hit to left with no outs in the 12th lifted Washington to a win over Atlanta.
PADRES 4, PHILLIES 2: At Philadelphia, Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-run homer and Chris Young pitched six effective innings for San Diego. After giving up a two-run homer to Chase Utley in the first, Young (2-2) allowed three hits over his last five innings, striking out six, and walking three.
CUBS 19, BREWERS 5: At Chicago, Geovany Soto hit two three-run homers and the Cubs pounded Milwaukee. It was the Cubs' biggest outburst since a 20-1 whipping of the Los Angles Dodgers on May 5, 2001.