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Cubs top Brewers on bases-loaded free pass

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CHICAGO (AP) -- Jake Fox's persistence and patience in drawing a game-winning, bases-loaded walk Friday should come as no surprise. He's a determined guy with big minor league numbers trying to find a permanent job with the Chicago Cubs.

Fox fouled off four pitches before working a two-out walk on a close 3-2 pitch from Mike DiFelice, sending the Cubs to a 2-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in 10 innings Friday.

"He made some great pitches and I was able to fight them off until he either gave me a pitch to hit or made a mistake. And he missed one," Fox said.

"I just went back into the video room to check it out. ... It was a little up and a little bit in. I thought the umpire made a good call there. But it was a close one."

Ryan Theriot singled off second baseman Craig Counsell's glove with one out in the 10th and went to second on a wild pitch from DiFelice (4-1). After Theriot moved up on a fly ball, the Brewers intentionally walked Milton Bradley. With a 3-0 count on pinch-hitter Geovany Soto, DiFelice also walked him intentionally to load the bases.

Fox, in his second stint with the Cubs after hitting 17 homers and batting .409 at Triple-A, finally got a ball four -- and the Cubs had a victory. It was a call that had DiFelice extending his arms and walking toward plate umpire Bill Welke as the Cubs celebrated and mobbed Fox.

"I shouldn't have put us in that situation," DiFelice said. "I started getting tired toward the end there, but it shouldn't have been bases loaded, 3-2 count in the first place."

Before Friday, DiFelice had walked only five batters all season in 311/3 innings.

"For a guy that prides himself on being a control pitcher, I think that is the toughest thing," he said. "To lose a game with a walk-off walk, that definitely hurts more."

The Brewers threatened in the ninth when Cubs right fielder Bradley lost Jason Kendall's high fly in the sun -- the ball hit him on the right arm -- and fell for a double. Kevin Gregg (3-2) hit Counsell with a pitch, but Ryan Braun popped out to end the inning.

Milwaukee took a 1-0 lead when Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano walked Corey Hart with the bases loaded in the fourth. The Cubs tied it in the fifth on Zambrano's RBI single off Jeff Suppan.

Cubs center fielder Kosuke Fukudome made a great throw to cut down Suppan at the plate in the seventh and keep the game tied.

Suppan opened with a single before third baseman Fox fumbled Kendall's bunt for an error, putting runners at first and second. With two outs, Prince Fielder hit a sharp single to center and Fukudome made a one-hop throw to Koyie Hill, who tagged Suppan to end the inning.

"I wish I was a little bit faster to be honest with you. It was just one of those things where I was never really gifted with speed and I just try to get there," Suppan said.

Fukudome called it a normal baseball play.

"The runner was a pitcher, so I definitely had a chance," Fukudome said.

Zambrano, who hasn't won in five starts since June 5, gave up five hits and a run in seven innings.

Suppan yielded four hits and a run in seven innings -- his longest outing of the season.

The Brewers loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth after Counsell and Braun singled and Zambrano hit Fielder on the shoulder with a high inside pitch, but Milwaukee managed only one run when Zambrano walked Hart.

When Suppan drilled Derrek Lee on the left hip in the bottom of the inning, Welke warned both benches. Lee had seven RBIS and two homers Thursday night in the opener.

Bradley grounded a single to left to put runners at first and third, but J.J. Hardy fielded Fukudome's hard grounder up the middle and started an inning-ending double play.

After Fox was hit with a pitch in the fifth, Mike Fontenot followed with a double over Braun's outstretched glove in left to put runners at second and third. Zambrano, a switch-hitter batting right-handed against the right-handed Suppan, then dumped a one-out single into center to tie the game.

Yankees 4, Blue Jays 2

NEW YORK -- After he was knocked out in the third inning at Fenway Park in early June, A.J. Burnett vowed to improve.

Has he ever.

Burnett scattered six hits over seven innings to win for the third time in four starts, and the Yankees opened the long holiday weekend with a 4-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday.

"When you're clicking, everything just flows," Burnett said. "When you're clicking on pitches, you don't even think about anything. You know, it's just all confidence out there."

Robinson Cano homered leading off the second and Alex Rodriguez starting the eighth. The Yankees, who wore jarring red caps as part of Major League Baseball's Fourth of July weekend celebration, rebounded from Thursday night's 8-4 loss to Seattle for their eighth win in nine games following a 1-5 slide.

"It was good to have a day game and get back at it really quickly," said Rodriguez, whose 567th homer -- his fifth in eight games -- left him two shy of Rafael Palmeiro for 10th place.

It was the start of an unusual stretch of four straight day games between New York and Toronto, a series that includes Saturday's observance of the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig's famous farewell speech.

Burnett had lost 5-1 to his former team and Roy Halladay at Toronto on May 12.

"Completely different," he said. "Not even close. I didn't even pay attention to who got in the box today. The first time was kind of weird."

Burnett (7-4) allowed both runs, struck out seven and walked two. He got his first three strikeouts on 96 mph fastballs, then rung up his final four with curveballs in the low 80s.

Since the loss at Boston, he's allowed three earned runs in 271/3 innings (0.99 ERA).

"It's not so much speed, it's the location," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

Phil Coke and Phil Hughes split the eighth, with Hughes retiring Vernon Wells on an inning-ending grounder with a runner on second. For now, Hughes has supplanted struggling Brian Bruney as Mariano Rivera's primary setup man.

"I'm just going to continue to go out there and throw when I'm called upon. I don't really care, man. Everybody's caught up in what inning," Bruney said. "It doesn't matter."

Bruney has allowed three runs in 42/3 innings since returning from the disabled list.

"We need to get him going, and we need to get him right," Girardi said. "We're going to pick some innings, and they'll still be important innings."

Since he's been shifted from the rotation to the bullpen in early June, Hughes has gained 3-4 mph on his fastball to 95-96.

"I can let it go," he said.

Rivera struck out two in a perfect ninth for his 21st save in 22 chances, No. 503 of his career. Outside of Rivera, the pecking order has been uncertain.

"It didn't really seem like we settled into any particular role right out of the gate, because we struggled," Coke said. "Lately, it's been a little bit of a free-for-all, but we've all been effective."

Brian Tallet (5-6) gave up three runs -- two earned -- six hits and four walks in six innings as Toronto lost for the fifth time in six games. He walked Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter starting the fifth, then fielded Johnny Damon's drag bunt and flipped the ball low, a play at first ruled an error but then called a single.

Tallet walked Mark Teixeira on four pitches, forcing in a run and putting the Yankees ahead 2-1. Another run scored on a passed ball by Raul Chavez, who appeared to get crossed up on the first pitch to Cano.

"I put myself in that position," Tallet said. "No disrespect to Brett Gardner: He's the guy we don't walk in that lineup. It's inexcusable."

Alex Rios had a tying single in the fourth. Wells, dropped to No. 6 in the starting batting order for the first time since June 3, 2005, hit a long homer to left in the sixth on an 0-2 pitch to pull the Blue Jays to 3-2.

"If I want to get back to the position I'm used to hitting, I've got to do a better job," Wells said.