Marquis is rock solid

Jim Tracy collected his first win as interim manager of the Colorado Rockies as Jason Marquis turned in a dominating performance to beat the San Diego Padres 3-0. Tracy was installed after Clint Hurdle was dismissed earlier in the day, but there was little he needed to do as Marquis pitched eight shut-out innings, giving up six hits while striking out six. "Whether it's Tracy at the helm or Hurdle, we should expect 100 per cent, full energy every time we step on the field," Marquis said after the game. "We can't make it all up in one game, and take it one pitch, on at-bat at a time and hopefully it leads to something special."

Yorvit Torrealba powered the offence, driving in Seth Smith in the second inning, and then forcing an error from Kevin Kouzmanoff with the bases loaded in the sixth to make it 3-0. Elsewhere, Koyie Hill homered and Kosuke Fukudome hit a tie-breaking sacrifice fly in the seventh inning as the Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1. Chicago's Ted Lilly and Los Angeles' Chad Billingsley each pitched six scoreless innings, before Matt Kemp homered with two outs in the top of the seventh for the Dodgers.

But the Cubs bounced back in the bottom half through Hill and Fukudome to end Los Angeles' four-game winning run. Omir Santos singled in the winning run in the 11th inning after hitting a homer in the fifth to lead the New York Mets to a 2-1 victory over the Florida Marlins. Pedro Feliciano got one out to earn the Mets' fourth consecutive win and sixth in seven games. Brian Moehler pitched his first full game in nine years and was two outs away from his first shut-out in almost 10 as the Houston Astros beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-1.

* Agencies