NL roundup: Pirates snap Rockies' five-game win streak
CBSSports.com wire reports
PITTSBURGH -- Ian Snell won for the second time in 18 starts, Nate McLouth homered and the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied for an 8-4 victory over Colorado on Monday, snapping the Rockies' five-game winning streak.
Ryan Doumit and Doug Mientkiewicz each had three hits and two RBI for the Pirates, who had lost three in a row.
Pittsburgh also took advantage of nine walks to beat Colorado for the first time in five games this season. The Rockies had won nine of 10 since the All-Star break.
A two-run homer by Matt Holliday in the first and an RBI single from Willy Taveras in the second staked Colorado to a 3-0 lead.
But after Taveras' hit, Snell (4-8) retired 14 of the final 17 hitters he faced. The right-hander went seven innings for the second time in 21 starts this season and won for the first time since beating Washington on June 11.
Snell allowed four runs and eight hits to go along with a walk and eight strike outs.
Rockies starter Valerio De Los Santos, called up from Triple-A Colorado before the game, held the Pirates scoreless through four innings in his first major league start in more than eight years. Full story
Astros 5, Reds 4
HOUSTON -- Roy Oswalt came off the disabled list and beat Cincinnati again, striking out five. Oswalt (8-8) won his fifth consecutive start against the Reds and improved to 20-1 in 25 career outings against them, despite giving up a grand slam to Adam Dunn.
The Houston ace threw 74 pitches in five innings in his first start since aggravating a left hip injury on July 11. He went on the DL on July 19 and was activated just before Monday's game.
Geoff Blum hit his third homer in two days and Jose Valverde pitched a perfect ninth to earn his 27th save. The Astros bullpen allowed one hit in four scoreless innings as Houston beat Cincinnati for the seventh straight time.
Johnny Cueto (7-10) gave up five runs and eight hits for the Reds, who've lost four in a row and six of their last eight.
Giants 7, Dodgers 6
LOS ANGELES -- Jose Castillo hit a pair of RBI singles and Fred Lewis drove in two runs as San Francisco snapped a three-game skid.
Kevin Correia (2-5) won for the first time since April 10 against St. Louis after going 0-4 with a 6.65 ERA over his previous nine starts. The right-hander allowed six runs -- four earned -- and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out five, walked none and hit a two-out, two-run single in the Giants' five-run fourth.
Brian Wilson, the sixth Giants pitcher, worked a perfect ninth for his NL-leading 28th save in 30 chances.
Hiroki Kuroda (5-8) had his worst outing of the season on Japanese Community Night at Dodger Stadium. The right-hander, who has pitched two complete-game shutouts this season, surrendered seven runs and nine hits in 3 2/3 innings.
