UNDATED (AP) __Lance Lynn returned to his sharp early season form and pitched the NL Central-leading St. Louis Cardinals past Philadelphia 3-1 for his 12th victory. He allowed one run over seven innings.

Lynn is 12-5. He had dropped four of his previous five decisions and was 3-4 in his past eight starts before facing Philadelphia.

He gave up just five hits and one run to the slumping Phillies, who've lost five straight.

St. Louis has the most wins in the majors at 62 and is a season-high 25 games over .500.

In other NL action:

__ Cincinnati downed Los Angeles 5-2, cutting the Dodgers' lead in the NL West to a half-game over Arizona. Jay Bruce hit his 21st homer and Xavier Paul added a solo shot for the Reds.

—Aaron Hill homered and drove in two runs to lead Arizona past the Chicago Cubs 3-1. Wade Miley won his seventh game.

— Rob Brantly scored on a wild pitch to break up a scoreless game in the eighth inning, Donovan Solano homered in a four-run ninth, and the Miami Marlins overcame a 93-minute rain delay to beat the Colorado Rockies 5-3.

— John Buck drove in three runs to lead the Mets to a 7-4 win over NL East leading Atlanta. A missed call by the umpires helped the Mets score three times in the sixth and led to the ejection of Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez.

— Bryce Harper slammed a two-run walkoff home run in the ninth inning to give Washington a 9-7 win over Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh forced the bottom of the ninth by scoring four runs in the top of the inning off Nats closer Rafael Soriano. The win snapped a six-game losing streak for the Nats.

— Carlos Quinten homered as part of a 16 hit attack and drove in three runs to help San Diego outscore Milwaukee 10-8.

Over in the AL:

— Jake Peavy outpitched Justin Verlander in the Chicago White Sox' 7-4 win over Detroit. Peavy pitched into the eighth inning giving up four runs on four hits, including three homers to improve to 8-4. He's been the subject of trade rumors as the July 31 deadline approaches. Verlander got roughed up for seven runs on 11 hits in six innings to fall to 10-8, matching

— Hiroki Kuroda (hih-ROH'-kee kuh-ROH'-duh) continued his brilliant July pitching by scattering six hits in seven innings of the Yankees 2-0 win over Texas. Kuroda improved to 10-6 and is 3-0 with a 0.69 ERA in four July starts.

__ Kansas City outscored Baltimore 7-1. Jeremy Guthrie pitched six solid innings and Billy Butler homered for the Royals, who completed a 5-2 homestand.

__ Mark Buehrle (BUR'-lee) pitched a two-hitter and the Toronto Blue Jays ended a season-worst seven-game losing streak, beating the Houston Astros 4-0. The last-place Blue Jays had been 0-6 since the All-Star break.

__ The L.A. Angels routed Oakland 8-3. The Athletics' lead in the AL West is down to three games over Texas. Mark Trumbo's two-run double keyed a four-run fifth inning for the Angels.

__Seattle scored six runs in the second inning and coasted by Minnesota 8-2. Hisashi Iwakuma (hih-SAH'-shee ih-wah-KOO'-muh) hurled six shutout innings for his 10th victory.

__ Tampa Bay and Boston were rained out at Fenway Park. The Red Sox remain a half-game in front of the Rays. The game will be made up Monday, which had been an off day for both teams.

UNDATED (AP) __Alex Rodriguez's already strained relationship with the New York Yankees hit another low when he pushed to be activated from the disabled list Friday, the team refused and he had a lawyer join the discussion of his injury rehabilitation.

Already a target of Major League Baseball's drug investigation, the third baseman angered the Yankees when he obtained a second medical opinion on his strained left quadriceps this week without informing the team in writing, a step required by the sport's collective bargaining agreement. The Yankees intend to discipline him, most likely with a fine.

The three-time AL MVP, who turns 38 Saturday, has been sidelined since hip surgery in January.

In other baseball news:

— The Chicago Cubs have pulled Alfonso Soriano from the lineup and manager Dale Sveum (swaym) says a trade to send the outfielder to the New York Yankees is about "99 percent done." The Yankees and Cubs would need to work out the financial aspects of Soriano's rich contract.

— The Philadelphia Phillies have put All-Star Domonic Brown on the seven-day concussion disabled list. The outfielder hit his head on the ground while trying to make a diving catch in a Tuesday night game. He leads the Phillies with 24 homers and 69 RBIs.

— The Oakland Athletics have placed catcher John Jaso on the seven-day concussion disabled list. Stephen Vogt was called up from Triple-A Sacramento, and Derek Norris moved into the starting lineup in Jaso's place.

— Atlanta Braves pitcher Tim Hudson is out for the rest of the season with a broken right ankle. He suffered the injury in Wednesday night's win over the Mets in New York. The team says Hudson will have season-ending surgery in Atlanta once the swelling subsides.

__Hall of Famer George Brett is stepping down from his on-field job as Kansas City's interim hitting coach and returning to the Royals' front office, where he's served as vice president of baseball operations since retiring as a player following the 1993 season. Brett called his stint as Royals hitting coach "a tremendous experience for me," breaking down for a few seconds before adding: "It was special."

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