NATIONAL LEAGUE Lee's blast lifts Cubs, 3-2

Omar Vizquel had four hits and five RBIs as the Giants beat the Braves.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO -- Derrek Lee gave the Chicago Cubs another reason why they should speed up negotiations on a contract extension.
Lee hit a tie-breaking solo homer in the eighth inning to lead the Cubs to a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday.
One day after saying he would break off negotiations for a contract extension until the off-season, Lee softened his stance before the game, but made the big statement with the homer in the eighth. Lee would be one of the most attractive free agents on the open market, but he has said he wants to remain in Chicago.
"This guy has emerged as one of the greats in this game," manager Dusty Baker said.
Michael Barrett had a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the seventh for the Cubs, who couldn't get anything going against NL Cy Young Award winner Chris Carpenter. The right-hander struck out nine in six shutout innings, allowing four hits and one walk.
"I was glad [Carpenter] was out of the game when I did have to pinch hit to be honest with you," Barrett said. "I was watching him in the clubhouse, he was just hitting both sides of the plate."
Pitches were working
Besides attacking both sides of the plate, Carpenter had all of his pitches working.
"I had pretty good sink on my fastball, my cutter was good, my breaking ball was good. I threw some real good change-ups today. I got through that first [inning] and made pretty good pitches all day," Carpenter said.
Lee, who homered on Friday in the Cubs' home opener, greeted Cardinals reliever Brad Thompson (1-1) with a drive leading off the eighth. Lee's homer left Wrigley Field and landed on Waveland Avenue despite the wind blowing in.
Bob Howry (1-0) got two outs in the eighth and Ryan Dempster pitched the ninth for his first save of the season.
Trailing 2-0 in the seventh, the Cubs took advantage of the Cardinals bullpen. Matt Murton led off with a single off Josh Hancock. One out later, Barrett, pinch-hitting for Henry Blanco, hit Hancock's 3-1 pitch into the left-field bleachers to tie it at 2. It was Barrett's second pinch-hit homer of his career.
"I'll be thinking about it, but I want the ball again," said Hancock. "I just got behind him and he was looking fastball. I gave him a fastball to hit. the location was off, I didn't get ahead. I just didn't pitch today. I was trying to get it low, try to put him on the ground. if he was going to get a swing on it, I wanted him to swing and hit it down."
Errors hamper Zambrano
Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano struggled on opening day, but settled down against the Cardinals. Zambrano coasted through the first five innings, but ran into trouble in sixth because of two key errors made behind him.
Zambrano walked Jim Edmonds with two outs in the sixth. During Scott Rolen's at-bat, Zambrano caught Edmonds jumping too early to second. Zambrano threw over to Derrek Lee at first, but Lee missed the throw and Edmonds advanced to third.
Rolen followed with a grounder to shortstop, but Ronny Cedeno's throw pulled Lee off first, allowing Edmonds to score. Yadier Molina added an RBI single to make it 2-0 Cardinals.
"I felt horrible about missing the ball. [Zambrano] threw it right at my chest and I just whiffed it. When the pitcher is pitching that well you don't want to make a mistake then Michael Barrett picked us up with the big home run so it felt good to hit the home run and put us back in the lead," Lee said.
Zambrano allowed two unearned runs in six innings and had five strikeouts. He gave up four hits and walked four.
"Boy, that was a great comeback victory especially after we kind of gave it to them in the [sixth] inning with those two runs," Baker said.
ST. LOUISCHICAGO
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Eckstin ss5000Pierre cf3010
Rdrgez lf3020TWalkr 2b3000
Tguchi lf1000Ohman p0000
JEcrcn ph1000Howry p0000
Pujols 1b3000NPerez ss0000
Edmnd cf3100DeLee 1b4131
Rolen 3b4100ARmrz 3b4000
Schmkr rf3020JJones rf3000
Thmps p0000Murton lf3110
YMlina c4011Cedeno ss4010
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Crpnter p3000HBlnco c2000
Hanck p0000Barrett c2112
Flors p0000CZmro p2000
Spiezio lf0000Wllmsn p0000
Pagan ph1000
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Totals33251Totals31373
St. Louis000002000--2
Chicago00000021x--3
E--DeLee (2), Cedeno 2 (2). LOB--St. Louis 9, Chicago 8. 2B--Rodriguez (1), Cedeno (3). HR--DeLee (3), Barrett (1). SB--Edmonds (1), DeLee (1). CS--Schumaker (1).
IPHRERBBSO
St. Louis
Carpenter640019
Hancock2-322200
Flores1-300010
Thompson L,1-1111121
Chicago
CZambrano642045
Williamson100001
Ohman1-300001
Howry W,1-0 2-310001
Dempster S,1100010
Umpires--Home, Dale Scott; First, Terry Craft; Second, Dan Iassogna; Third, Ron Kulpa. T--2:35. A--40,182.
Giants 12, Braves 6
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants didn't need much from Barry Bonds to knock around Tim Hudson and Atlanta on Saturday, getting four hits and five RBIs from Omar Vizquel and a two-run homer from Moises Alou.
The Giants scored eight runs off Hudson to help Jamey Wright (1-0) win his San Francisco debut. Alou hit his 299th career homer in the first and Vizquel hit a three-run double in a five-run second against Hudson.
Bonds went 1-for-3 with two walks, remaining stuck on 708 career home runs. He is 2-for-10 with five walks and no RBIs through the Giants' first five games this season, the longest he has gone into a season when healthy without a homer since 1998 when he didn't go deep until San Francisco's 13th game.
According to the new book "Game of Shadows," Bonds began using steroids after that season, although he has denied ever using them.
The homerless start has slowed Bonds' chase of the career home run record. He remains seven shy of passing Babe Ruth for second place and is 48 away from breaking Hank Aaron's total of 755.
Bonds hit a broken-bat fly to center in the first, walked in the second, singled in the fourth on a liner that knuckled past shortstop Edgar Renteria, lined out to right field in the seventh and walked in the eighth.
Wright (1-0) faced just one batter over the minimum through the first five innings, getting some help from his defense. The Giants turned double plays in the third, fourth and fifth innings and Bonds even made two nice running grabs in left field.
Wright allowed four runs and five hits in seven-plus innings, leaving to a standing ovation. After spending six of his first 10 seasons in the thin air in Colorado, Wright was glad to move to the Giants' pitcher-friendly ballpark, where he is now 3-1 with a 2.76 ERA.
The Braves once again struggled with their pitching. They have won 14 straight division titles behind their stellar pitching staff but are off to a slow start in their first season since pitching coach Leo Mazzone left for Baltimore.
Atlanta has a 7.76 ERA through six games and its starters are even worse with a 11.57 mark. In Mazzone's 15 full seasons as pitching coach, the Braves never had an ERA higher than 4.10 and finished in the top three in the league 13 times.
Hudson gave up six earned runs and eight hits in four innings for his second straight rough start. But his hitters weren't able to bail him out as they did on opening day in Los Angeles.
ATLANTASAN FRAN
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MGiles 2b1000Vizquel ss4345
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CJones 3b5013Alou rf4222
AJones cf3000Accrdo p0000
LaRche 1b2000Tschnr p0000
BJordn 1b1000Bonds lf3010
Frncur rf4010Ellison rf0000
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THudsn p1000Niekro 1b1000
Diaz lf3220
Totals31686Totals35121211
Atlanta000002022--6
San Francisco25100004x--12
E--CJones (2). DP--Atlanta 1, San Francisco 4. LOB--Atlanta 6, San Francisco 7. 2B--CJones (1), Vizquel (2), TGreene (1). 3B--SFinley (2). HR--Alou (2). SB--Vizquel (3).
IPHRERBBSO
Atlanta
THudson L,0-1488630
James210012
Remlinger100000
Devine2-334441
Ray1-300000
San Francisco
Wright W,1-0754454
Munter1-310010
Kline2-300000
Accardo2-322221
Taschner1-300001
Wright pitched to 2 batters in the 8th. WP--Devine 2, Taschner. Umpires--Home, Greg Gibson; First, Paul Nauert; Second, Ramon Armendariz; Third, Larry Vanover. T--2:50. A--39,050.
Brewers 5, Diamondbacks 4
MILWAUKEE -- Carlos Lee's ninth-inning single led the Brewers their fifth straight comeback win.
The Brewers are 5-0 for the first time since 1987 and the third time in franchise history.
Dan Kolb (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth to get the win. Luis Vizcaino (0-1) got the loss.
With one out, J.J. Hardy doubled down the left-field line -- his third hit of the game. Geoff Jenkins was walked intentionally to put runners at first and second. On a 1-2 pitch, Lee lined the ball to center field and Hardy beat Eric Byrnes' throw to the plate.
Doug Davis lasted only five innings for the Brewers, giving up four runs and five hits. It was the second straight no-decision for Davis, who started the Brewers' season opener Monday against Pittsburgh.
Brandon Webb started for the Diamondbacks and pitched six innings, giving up four runs and nine hits.
ARIZONAMILWAUKEE
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Cunsell ss4210BClark cf5010
Byrnes cf3110Hardy ss5230
LGnzlz lf4111Jenkins rf4000
CJcksn 1b2011CaLee lf4022
ShGren rf4000Koskie 3b3010
Easley 3b4022Weeks 2b4000
OHudsn 2b4010Fildr 1b4231
CSnydr c3000Moeller c4110
DVnon ph1000DDavis p2000
LVzcno p0000Hllng p0000
Webb p3000Gross ph1012
Mlhllnd p0000La Rsa p0000
Lyon p0000BHall ph1000
JEstda c1000Kolb p0000
Totals33474Totals375125
Arizona201010000--4
Milwaukee001102001--5
One out when winning run scored.
E--Easley (2). DP--Milwaukee 1. LOB--Arizona 6, Milwaukee 10. 2B--BClark (1), Hardy (1), CaLee (2), Koskie (1). HR--LGonzalez (2), Fielder (1). SB--Hardy (1).
IPHRERBBSO
Arizona
Webb694316
Mulholland2-310001
Lyon1 1-300002
LVizcaino L,0-1 1-321110
Milwaukee
DDavis554444
Helling110001
De La Rosa210002
Kolb W,1-0100000
HBP--by Webb (Koskie). WP--Lyon. Umpires--Home, Bill Miller; First, Gerry Davis; Second, Brian Gorman; Third, Eric Cooper. T--2:49. A--29,226.