Lo Duca Is the Man for the Marlins

Paul Lo Duca came through again for the Florida Marlins.

Lo Duca hit a two-run single off Dan Kolb with none out in the ninth inning, and Florida rallied to beat error-plagued Milwaukee, 7-6, on Friday night at Miami.

Lo Duca, acquired last Friday from the Dodgers, improved to nine for 18 with eight runs batted in since joining the Marlins.

“It hasn’t taken him long to be a folk hero here,” Manager Jack McKeon said.

Kolb’s throwing error fueled the comeback, and he blew a save for only the second time in 32 chances this season. He had converted 17 chances in a row.

After Kolb intentionally walked Luis Castillo, Lo Duca blooped a 2-and-2 pitch into center for a single, and both runners scored without a play at the plate.

“When I got to 0-2, I just said, ‘Don’t strike out. Try to put it in play and see what happens,’ ” Lo Duca said. “I got jammed, and luckily it dropped in.”

San Francisco 6, Chicago 2 -- Jason Schmidt struck out 11 in his NL-leading 14th win and Michael Tucker hit a three-run homer at San Francisco.

One night before Chicago’s Greg Maddux goes for his 300th win, Schmidt earned his 100th victory.

Nomar Garciaparra got three hits and scored a run for the Cubs.

Houston 4, Montreal 0 -- Shortstop Adam Everett broke a bone in his left wrist during the Astros’ victory at Houston.

Everett was hit by a pitch from Claudio Vargas in the fourth inning and broke the ulna bone. Everett will be sidelined for at least four weeks and it was unclear whether he would need surgery.

Roy Oswalt (12-8) struck out eight and walked one in his second shutout of the season. Oswalt has won four straight decisions overall, and he improved to 9-0 against Montreal in 13 starts.

San Diego 13, Pittsburgh 1 -- Mark Loretta homered twice and set a career high with five RBIs at San Diego. Loretta hit a solo homer in the first, capped a four-run second inning with an RBI double, had a sacrifice fly in a six-run sixth and hit a two-run homer in the eighth for his first career two-homer game.

St. Louis 6, New York 4 -- Albert Pujols’ third hit broke a seventh-inning tie at St. Louis.

The Cardinals won for the 14th time in 18 games. Pujols is 12 for 28 (.429) during a six-game hitting streak with two homers.

Colorado 8, Cincinnati 5 -- Todd Helton and Preston Wilson drove in two runs each to help Shawn Estes to his 12th victory as the Rockies overcame a four-run deficit to win at Denver.

Atlanta 4, Arizona 2 -- Jaret Wright extended his career-best winning streak to eight games and Adam LaRoche hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth inning at Phoenix.