Bruce homers as Reds beat Dodgers to clinch division crown

CINCINNATI — General manager Walt Jocketty hit the "send" button on his cellphone right at the final out, informing his manager that the Reds' championship celebration was on.

And with a familiar swing getting them there.

Jay Bruce was Cincinnati's Mr. Clinch again, hitting the homer that started the Reds toward a 6-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday that made good on their second try for the title. The only thing missing was the manager.

Dusty Baker spent another day in a Chicago hospital getting treated for an irregular heartbeat. Jocketty texted congratulations to the 63-year-old Baker on his fifth division title as a manager, including two during the last three years with Cincinnati.

"He is here everywhere," owner Bob Castellini said, standing in the middle of a soaked clubhouse that had beer and champagne dripping from the ceiling. "He is here in spirit, and everybody knows he's here. We hope to see him tomorrow."

The players toasted Baker before drenching each other.

"It's a shame he's not here," third baseman Scott Rolen said. "He digs this stuff. He's missed, there's no doubt about that."

The Reds videotaped the celebration, along with best wishes, to send to Baker. When they clinched two years ago, Baker wound up in the middle of a players' huddle, getting joyously soaked.

The 2010 party started with a dramatic Bruce homer, a first-pitch leadoff shot in the ninth against Houston's Tim Byrdak. On Saturday, he led off the fourth inning with a first-pitch homer off rookie Stephen Fife (0-2), putting Cincinnati ahead to stay with his team-leading 34th of the season.

"It's not the same as two years ago, but I'll take it," Bruce said. "We've been taking care of business for quite a while, so we knew this was coming. Today is a nutshell of what we've been doing all season."

Mat Latos (13-4) allowed six hits and didn't walk a batter in eight innings. Left-hander Aroldis Chapman made his first appearance since Sept. 10 — a tired shoulder had sidelined him — and finished it off by getting Hanley Ramirez to hit into a double play off a 160 kph fastball.

Giants 8, Padres 4

In San Francisco, Madison Bumgarner pitched the Giants to their second NL West title in three years and newcomer Marco Scutaro had three hits and three RBIs.

The Giants captured their eighth divisional crown — wrapping it up once again with a victory over the Padres in front of their home fans, just as they did on the season's final day in 2010 on the way to an improbable World Series championship.

Braves 8, Phillies 2

In Philadelphia, Freddie Freeman hit a three-run homer to back Mike Minor and the Braves roughed up Roy Halladay to move closer to clinching a postseason berth.

Cardinals 5, Cubs 4 (10)

In Chicago, Jon Jay's RBI double in the 10th inning lifted St. Louis to the victory, bolstering the Cardinals' bid for another playoff appearance.

Nationals 10, Brewers 4

In Washington, Gio Gonzalez became the majors' first 20-game winner in 2012, and the first pitcher for a Washington baseball team with 200 strikeouts since Walter Johnson in 1916.

Norichika Aoki was 1-for-3 for the Brewers.

Mets 4, Marlins 3

In New York, R.A. Dickey earned his 19th victory with a strong performance, Jason Bay and Scott Hairston homered and the Mets barely held on in the ninth inning for their second straight home win.

Diamondbacks 8, Rockies 7

In Denver, Aaron Hill tripled and drove in four runs for Arizona.

Astros 4, Pirates 1

In Houston, Jason Castro hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning and the Astros handed the fading Pirates their fifth straight loss.

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Hamilton blasts four homers

Hit machine: Josh Hamilton watches his eighth-inning home run, his fourth of the game, against the Orioles on Tuesday. AP

BALTIMORE — Moments before he made history with his final swing in an incredible four-homer performance, Josh Hamilton stepped to the plate in the eighth inning with a surprising sense of calm.

The Texas Rangers slugger had never before hit more than two home runs in a game, and he already had three. So as he took his place in the batter's box against Baltimore right-hander Darren O'Day, Hamilton already had a feeling of accomplishment.

"I just went up like it was any other at-bat because if I don't hit one," Hamilton reasoned, "I've still had a really good night."

It turned out to be unforgettable.

Hamilton became the 16th player to hit four home runs in a game, launching a quartet of two-run drives against three different pitchers to carry the Rangers to a 10-3 victory Tuesday.

Hamilton homered off Jake Arrieta in the first and third innings, added another off Zach Phillips in the seventh and topped it off with a one-for-the-books shot against O'Day. During the last at-bat, Hamilton took a mighty hack and missed, lined a foul into right-field seats and then sent an 0-2 pitch over the center-field wall.

"Obviously it's, other than being in the World Series, the highlight of my big-league career," Hamilton said. "I was saying after I hit two I've never hit three in a game before, and what a blessing that was. Then to hit four is just an awesome feeling, to see how excited my teammates got.

"It reminds you of when you're in Little League and a little kid, and just the excitement and why we play the game. Things like that. You never know what can happen. It was just an absolute blessing."

Hamilton also doubled in the fifth inning. His 18 total bases is a new single-game American League record, and his eight RBIs are a career high.

"Amazing," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "Josh came out tonight, and he wasn't going to be denied."

The last player to hit four home runs in a game was Carlos Delgado on Sept. 25, 2003, for Toronto against Tampa Bay. Two of the 16 players to hit four homers in a game did it before 1900.

"History was witnessed tonight," Washington said.

"It's like anything else — you do something good or something incredible happens, it takes a little bit for it to sink in," Hamilton said. "I think when I get away from everybody and I have some time to myself, I think it might then."

Hamilton is the sixth AL player to perform the feat. The last to hit four homers in a game against the Orioles was Rocky Colavito in 1959, at old Memorial Stadium.

Hamilton leads the AL with 14 homers and 36 RBIs, and his 5-for-5 effort raised his batting average to .406.

He also set the Texas single-game club record with five extra-base hits, breaking the mark of four held by eight players.

Yankees 5, Rays 3

In New York, David Robertson struck out Carlos Pena with the bases loaded to end a rocky ninth inning in his first save chance since Mariano Rivera's season-ending knee injury.

Twins 5, Angels 0

In Minneapolis, Scott Diamond pitched a career-best seven scoreless innings in his season debut and Ryan Doumit hit a two-run homer.

Tigers 6, Mariners 4

In Seattle, Justin Verlander won his 12th straight decision on the road and Prince Fielder homered.

Ichiro Suzuki was 1-for-4 with an RBI for the Mariners.

Royals 6, Red Sox 4

In Kansas City, Billy Butler hit a mammoth three-run homer in the eighth inning to lead the Royals past Boston.

Athletics 7, Blue Jays 3

In Oakland, newcomer Brandon Inge hit a game-ending grand slam to cap a five-run ninth-inning rally for the A's against Toronto.

White Sox 5, Indians 3 (10)

In Cleveland, Alex Rios tripled home the go-ahead run in the 10th inning for Chicago.

White Sox pinch hitter Kosuke Fukudome was 0-for-1.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Pirates 5, Nationals 4

In Pittsburgh, Rod Barajas hit a two-run homer off Washington closer Henry Rodriguez with two outs in the ninth.

Mets 7, Phillies 4

In Philadelphia, Lucas Duda had a tiebreaking, two-out RBI single in the seventh and the Mets took advantage of a defensive blunder.

Astros 3, Marlins 2

In Houston, pinch hitter Brian Bogusevic hit an eighth-inning RBI double and the Astros ended Miami's season-long seven-game winning streak.

Braves 3, Cubs 1

In Chicago, Dan Uggla hit a tiebreaking two-run single in the eighth inning to lift Atlanta.

Brewers 8, Reds 3

In Milwaukee, Aramis Ramirez hit a three-run triple, helping the Brewers shake off their recent offensive struggles.

Giants 2, Dodgers 1

In Los Angeles, Ryan Vogelsong pitched into the eighth inning for the first time this season and the Giants ended a streak of 12 straight winning decisions at home by Clayton Kershaw.

Cardinals 6, Diamondbacks 1

In Phoenix, Carlos Beltran homered in his first two at-bats, including a grand slam, and drove in six runs for St. Louis, which handed Arizona its fourth consecutive loss.

Padres 3, Rockies 1

In San Diego, Will Venable tripled and scored in the first, then doubled in the go-ahead run in the fifth inning to back 37-year-old starting pitcher Jeff Suppan.

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Inaba homers as Darvish records 11th victory

CHIBA — Yu Darvish threw eight effective innings as the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters avoided a three-game sweep by the Chiba Lotte Marines with a 4-3 win on Thursday.

Fight on: Atsunori Inaba hits a home run in the eighth inning of the Fighters' game against the Marines on Thursday in Chiba. Nippon Ham won 4-3. KYODO PHOTO

Darvish (11-2) allowed three runs, two earned, and six hits in eight innings en route to his baseball-leading 11th win.

The 24-year-old ace struck out five and walked two in a 108-pitch outing at QVC Marine Field.

Lotte took a 1-0 lead in the third on Masato Watanabe's inside-the-park home run, in which left fielder Sho Nakata misfielded what would have been just a single.

The second-place Fighters came right back in the fourth with a two-run homer by Yoshio Itoi.

A run-scoring error by Lotte first baseman Jose Castillo made it 3-1 for Nippon Ham. Atsunori Inaba added a solo home run in the eighth.

"It was nice that my solo shot turned out to be a crucial one for our win," Inaba said. "I wasn't sure if my fly ball would stay fair, but it did with a little help from the wind.

"Darvish was pitching for us, so we just couldn't lose. He was visibly frustrated on the mound at times, but he didn't make things worse. He's really mature now."

Hisashi Takeda closed out the game to pick up his 22nd save.

Lotte rookie Atsushi Kobayashi (0-2) was charged with three runs in seven innings.

Eagles 4, Buffaloes 3

At Osaka's Kyocera Dome, Ryo Hijirisawa hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the fifth inning to make a winner out of Masahiro Tanaka as Tohoku Rakuten beat Orix.

Tanaka (9-2) allowed three runs on nine hits in six innings. Yuki Nishi (5-3) took the loss. Darrell Rasner earned his first career save in Japan.

CENTRAL LEAGUE

Tigers 3, Dragons 1 (11)

At Nagoya Dome, Takashi Toritani scored the opening run after doubling in the 11th, when catcher Kohei Oda muffed a relay throw at the plate and another run scored on closer Hitoki Iwase's throwing error in Hanshin's win over Chunichi.

Akihito Fujii added an RBI grounder for insurance.

Kyuji Fujikawa (2-0) got the win in relief and rookie Daiki Enokida got his first career save despite allowing an RBI triple by Tatsuro Iwasaki in the bottom of the 11th.

Swallows 3, Giants 2 (11)

At Jingu Stadium, Norichika Aoki hit a bases-loaded infield RBI single for the game-winning run with two outs in the 11th inning as Tokyo Yakult completed a three-game sweep of Yomiuri.

Saburo Omura had an RBI single to open the scoring in the fourth before Hayato Sakamoto's solo shot in the fifth gave the Giants a 2-0 lead. Yakult rallied in the eighth, which featured Josh Whitesell's game-tying RBI single.

Yomiuri fell 10 games below .500.

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