NL roundup: Dodgers close to clinching playoff berth

To read game stories of each game please see www.deseretnews.com/sports/mlb/

WASHINGTON — Rafael Furcal hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning Thursday night, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Washington 7-6 to hand the Nationals their 100th loss of the season.

Furcal's drive off Ron Villone (4-6) was his fourth hit of the game. Ramon Troncoso (5-4) pitched 1 1-3 innings to get the win, and Jonathan Broxton finished for his 36th save.

The win reduced the Dodgers' magic number to one for clinching a playoff berth.

The Nationals, who were 59-102 last season, are the first NL franchise to lose 100 games in consecutive seasons since the San Diego Padres, who dropped 102 in both 1973 and 1974. In five seasons in Washington, the Nationals already have matched the number of 100-loss seasons the franchise had during its 36 seasons as the Montreal Expos — and that includes the formative 110-loss season as an expansion team in 1969.

PADRES 5, ROCKIES 4: At Denver, Nick Hundley homered to start the comeback and drove in the tiebreaking run with an eighth-inning single off Rafael Betancourt, and San Diego dealt the NL wild card-leading Rockies a disheartening loss.

The Rockies' cushion in the wild-card race was trimmed to 3.5 games over idle Atlanta, and the San Francisco Giants had a chance to cut their deficit to three games. They played the Chicago Cubs on the West Coast on Thursday night.

Joe Beimel (1-6) took the loss for Colorado, allowing one run while getting just two outs, and Adam Russell (3-1) retired the only batter he faced to pick up the win. Rookie right-hander Luke Gregerson got five outs for his first career save in six chances.

PHILLIES 9, BREWERS 4: At Milwaukee, Jimmy Rollins capped a six-run fifth inning with a three-run homer and Ryan Howard drove in two runs to help Philadelphia rookie J.A. Happ earn his 11th win.

Pedro Feliz had three hits, scored twice and drove in a run for Philadelphia, who amassed 14 hits and reduced their magic number to clinch the NL East to four.

Howard came into the game an RBI behind Prince Fielder, who entered with 131, for the major league lead, but he drove in Chase Utley with two outs in the first and added another in the eighth.

Fielder hit a run-scoring grounder in the bottom of the ninth to tie the sluggers at 132.

Happ (11-4) tied Randy Wells of the Chicago Cubs for the most victories by a rookie.