MLB: Philadelphia 3, Cincinnati 0

CINCINNATI, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Cliff Lee narrowly missed throwing a shutout Wednesday and completed a perfect August in leading the Philadelphia Phillies to a 3-0 victory over Cincinnati.

One day after celebrating his 33rd birthday, Lee (15-7) limited the Reds to five hits in eight innings before running into trouble in the ninth.

He quickly retired the first two batters in the inning and was one out away from his sixth shutout of the season. Joey Votto then doubled, Jay Bruce drew a walk and Lee hit Miguel Cairo with a pitch to load the bases.

That forced the hand of Manager Charlie Manuel, who replaced Lee with Ryan Madson. It took three pitches for Madson to retire Yonder Alonso on a foul popup to third base and pick up his 25th save.

Lee made five starts in August and won them all. He gave up only two runs in the month and had an 0.45 ERA. He went 5-0 in June with an ERA of 0.21.

Dontrelle Willis (0-4) took the loss, allowing all three runs on five hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Two of the runs scored on fielder's choice grounders -- one by Ryan Howard in the first and another by Chase Utley in the seventh. Hunter Pence hit a homer in the sixth, his 18th of the season, his second in as many days and his seventh since coming to the Phillies in a trade with Houston July 30.