Johnson’s Streak Ends, but He Wins

The only perfect game Randy Johnson had on his mind Sunday was the one Tom Glavine was pursuing.

“During the course of the game, I asked if he had gotten it,” Johnson said. “I knew there was going to be a perfect game possibly somewhere. It just wasn’t mine.”

Indeed, he wasn’t perfect again, nor was Glavine, but Johnson was still good enough to extend his dominance over the Florida Marlins.

Johnson didn’t allow a baserunner until the third inning in his first outing since throwing a perfect game against Atlanta on Tuesday, and the Arizona Diamondbacks used a four-run, two-out rally in the fifth inning against Dontrelle Willis to win, 4-3, at Miami.

Johnson extended his string of consecutive batters retired to 39 over his last three starts -- two shy of Jim Barr’s major league record set with the San Francisco Giants in 1972.

But the run ended when Abraham Nunez led off the third with a double. Nunez, facing Johnson for the first time, was batting .178 in 44 games.

In seven innings, Johnson (5-4) gave up four hits and two runs to beat the Marlins for the seventh time in eight decisions.

“I was just going out there and keeping us in the ballgame,” Johnson said. “I didn’t care whether I threw a perfect game in Atlanta, so I’m sure I didn’t care if I threw a perfect game out there today.”

Willis (4-3) retired Robby Hammock and Johnson to open the fifth, but Matt Kata hit a ground-rule double to center field. He scored easily when right fielder Miguel Cabrera bobbled Alex Cintron’s single.

Luis Gonzalez -- who had been in a two-for-18 skid -- followed with a double to drive in Cintron. Shea Hillenbrand then doubled to right, a ball Cabrera appeared to briefly lose in the sun, to drive in Gonzalez, and Steve Finley singled to center to score Gonzalez.

Cincinnati 7, Houston 0 -- Cory Lidle (3-4) won for the first time since April 22, and Ken Griffey Jr. hit a two-run homer at Cincinnati, leading the Reds to their fifth consecutive victory.

The Reds pulled into a first-place tie in the Central Division with the Chicago Cubs. The Astros, who have lost four in a row, fell out of first place for the first time since April 29.

Philadelphia 6, San Diego 4 -- At Philadelphia, Vicente Padilla won his fourth consecutive start, and the Phillies took two of three games from the Padres, preventing them from moving ahead of the Dodgers into first place in the West Division. Padilla (4-4) labored through six innings, giving up three runs -- one earned -- and eight hits, striking out five and hitting two batters.

Milwaukee 2, Pittsburgh 1 -- Keith Ginter hit a home run with two out in the top of the ninth inning to help the Brewers avoid a sweep. With the score 1-1, he hit a 3-and-2 pitch from reliever Brian Meadows over the left-center-field wall.

Chicago 4, St. Louis 3 -- Matt Clement earned his club-best sixth win, Aramis Ramirez hit a three-run homer in the first inning and the Cubs held on at Wrigley Field.

Clement (6-3) went seven innings, retiring 11 in a row during one stretch and giving up three hits, including Albert Pujols’ 12th homer in the sixth and Scott Rolen’s 10th in the seventh that made it a one-run game.

San Francisco vs. Montreal -- The series finale at San Juan, Puerto Rico, was postponed because of rain. No makeup date was announced.