Ramirez passes Mantle with 537th home run

LOS ANGELES – Manny Ramirez hit his 537th home run to pass Mickey Mantle into 15th place on the all-time list, and Jason Schmidt won his first major league start in more than two years as Los Angeles beat Cincinnati, 7-5, in the National League on Monday.

Ramirez, who tied Mantle on July 10, homered off Micah Owings (6-10) in the second inning to give Los Angeles a 6-3 lead. The Dodger Stadium crowd of 48,110 chanted his first name in unison, hoping for a curtain call that never came.

Making just his seventh start for the Dodgers since signing a three-year, $47 million contract in December 2006, Schmidt (1-0) threw 91 pitches over five innings and allowed three runs and five hits.

Jonathan Broxton pitched a perfect ninth for his 23rd save.

Owings gave up seven runs and nine hits in five innings, including Andre Ethier’s 19th homer, while Cincinnati lost its 10th consecutive game at Chavez Ravine.

At Philadelphia, Raul Ibanez hit a three-run homer, and Carlos Ruiz and Ryan Howard both went deep as Philadelphia beat Chicago, 10-1, for its ninth straight win.

Ruiz had an RBI double during a four-run fourth inning for the NL East leaders.

Rodrigo Lopez (2-0) allowed one run over six innings to give the Phillies their 13th win in their last 14 games.

The Phillies are on their longest winning streak since 2006 and improved to 23-23 at home. They were 13-22 at home before they went 9-1 in their last homestand.

At Atlanta, Tommy Hanson struck out 11 batters to remain unbeaten and Chipper Jones hit a two-run homer as Atlanta beat Jonathan Sanchez in his first start since his no-hitter.

Matt Diaz had a tiebreaking two-run triple in Atlanta’s six-run seventh inning, helping the Braves snap a five-game skid against San Francisco, 11-3, and Hanson improve to 5-0. Atlanta has won four of five and six of eight overall. (AP)