Damion Easley's eighth-inning homer carried the New York Yankees to its seventh straight win, 2-1 over the Colorado Rockies on Friday. Easley hit his third homer of the season on a 3-2 pitch from reliever Taylor Buchholz (3-3) with two outs. Billy Wagner worked a perfect ninth for his 21st save. The Mets have won seven straight for the first time since Aug. 17-24, 2006. They held an opponent to three hits for the fourth straight game. Pedro Feliciano (2-2) worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth for the victory. The Rockies loaded the bases in the sixth, seventh and eighth but couldn't get any runs out of it. Easley was 2-for-3 including his first homer since June 18. Mets starter Oliver Perez allowed one run and two hits in six-plus innings, walking six and striking out seven. Cubs 3, Giants 1: At Chicago, Aramis Ramirez broke a scoreless tie with a three-run homer in the eighth inning as Chicago downed San Francisco. Shut down by starter Matt Cain for seven innings, the Cubs struck quickly against his replacement and held off a ninth-inning rally to send the Giants to their fifth straight loss. Ryan Theriot led off the Cubs' eighth with a single off Tyler Walker and was sacrificed to second. Walker (3-5) intentionally walked Derrek Lee before Ramirez hit his 17th homer. Cardinals 6, Pirates 0: At Pittsburgh, Kyle Lohse limited Pittsburgh to six hits over seven innings and Rick Ankiel and Ryan Ludwick homered for St. Louis. Lohse (11-2) won his eighth in a row by limiting the Pirates to one extra-base hit. He hasn't lost in 12 starts since May 9, giving up two runs or fewer in all but two of his last 10 starts. Ankiel's two-run drive followed Yadier Molina's two-run double and finished off a decisive four-run third inning, with all the scoring occurring after Pirates starter Zach Duke (4-6) retired the first two batters. All six runs scored with two outs. Ankiel went 3-for-3 with a walk and drove in three runs. Troy Glaus had three of St. Louis' 13 hits. Nationals 10, Astros 0: At Washington, Ronnie Belliard homered twice and drove in five runs and Tim Redding finally got a victory after nine consecutive no-decisions for Washington. Other results: Reds 6, Brewers 5; Phillies 6, Diamondbacks 5, 12 innings; Padres 4, Braves 0; Marlins 3, Dodgers 1.
