CARDINALS 6, BRAVES 2
ST. LOUIS — Joe Kelly pitched six effective innings, Matt Holliday broke out of a slump with two doubles and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Atlanta Braves on Thursday night.
David Freese drove in two runs as St. Louis won for the fifth time in six games.
The NL East-leading Braves played without Jason Heyward, who is out with a broken right jaw after he was beaned during Wednesday's 4-1 win at the New York Mets. The outfielder had surgery on Thursday in Atlanta and could miss the rest of the regular season.
Justin Upton hit his 24th homer, but the Braves lost for the second time in three games at the start of a six-game trip. Paul Maholm (9-10) came off the disabled list and allowed five runs, four earned, and five hits in 5 1-3 innings.
Kelly (5-3) yielded two runs and seven hits while improving to 5-0 with a 1.79 ERA in his last seven starts.
Holliday went 2 for 3 and drove in a run, matching the amount of hits he had during a 2-for-24 slide over his previous six games.
DODGERS 6, MARLINS 0
MIAMI — Clayton Kershaw pitched eight effective innings, and the Dodgers won their third game in a row.
Kershaw (13-7) allowed five hits, struck out six and walked three while lowering his ERA to a major league-best 1.72. The Marlins hit into three double plays and went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
Former All-Star closer Brian Wilson pitched the ninth for Los Angeles in his first major league appearance since undergoing Tommy John surgery. He allowed one hit while striking out two in his first game since April 2012.
Wilson completed the Dodgers' 17th shutout, most in the majors. Miami was shut out for the 15th time.
Kershaw broke a scoreless tie when he hit a two-out single in the fourth to drive in the first of the Dodgers' three runs in the inning. He is tied for the major league lead among pitchers with eight RBIs.
Henderson Alvarez (2-3) went five innings and allowed five runs, all scoring with two outs.
PHILLIES 5, ROCKIES 4
PHILADELPHIA — Domonic Brown hit a game-ending RBI single to lift the Phillies to their second come-from-behind win in as many days.
The Phillies scored twice in the eighth and ninth. They have won four of five to improve to 4-3 under Ryne Sandberg, who became the interim manager when Charlie Manuel was fired last Friday.
Colorado carried a 4-3 lead into the ninth, but Rafael Betancourt (2-5) blew a save opportunity for the second straight game and the third time in 19 chances. He recorded two outs before departing with a sprained right elbow.
Cesar Jimenez (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth for the victory.
Willin Rosario homered for Colorado, which has dropped five of six. The Rockies have won nine of 39 games against Philadelphia since the start of the 2008 season.
Darin Ruf went deep for the Phillies.
REDS 2, DIAMONDBACKS 1
CINCINNATI — Shin-Soo Choo scored in the eighth inning on Arizona's fourth wild pitch of the game, and Cincinnati raced to an improbable win.
Choo scored both Cincinnati runs, helping the Reds to their third win in the four-game series. Cincinnati (73-55) improved to a season-high 18 games over .500 and increased its lead over Arizona to seven games in the race for the National League's second wild-card playoff spot.
Choo singled to lead off the eighth against reliever Eury De La Rosa (0-1) and moved to second when De La Rosa's pickoff attempt rolled away from first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. Todd Frazier sacrificed Choo to third, and Choo scored when ball four to Joey Votto was a wild pitch.
Mat Latos (13-4) went eight innings for the win. Sam LeCure gave up two hits in the ninth, but earned his first career save.
Arizona starter Trevor Cahill, in his second start since coming off the disabled list, allowed four hits and one run. He walked three, struck out seven and threw three wild pitches — all in the third inning. Cahill has a major league-high 14 wild pitches this season.
NATIONALS 5, CUBS 4 (13)
CHICAGO — Denard Span scored the go-ahead run on pinch-hitter Chad Tracy's grounder in the 13th inning, and Washington beat the Chicago Cubs after Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg blew a three-run lead in the ninth.
Span doubled leading off the 13th against Michael Bowden (1-3). He moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Steve Lombardozzi and came around on Tracy's roller to the first-base side of the mound.
That made a winner of Craig Stammen (7-5), who worked two innings.
Drew Storen earned his third save in eight chances. Storen deflected Dioner Navarro's liner toward Lombardozzi to start a game-ending double play after Anthony Rizzo reached on a throwing error by the second baseman with one out.
After a two-hour rain delay at the start, Strasburg was one out away from a complete game with a 4-1 lead before Chicago rallied to tie it in the ninth. Junior Lake had an RBI single, and Donnie Murphy hit a two-run homer to make it 4-4.
Ryan Zimmerman and Steve Lombardozzi homered, and Strasburg added two hits, including an RBI single, as Washington built a 4-0 lead. Strasburg gave up seven hits, struck out eight and walked two.
PIRATES 10, GIANTS 5
SAN FRANCISCO — Garrett Jones and Jordy Mercer homered, Jose Tabata hit a three-run double, and the NL Central-leading Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants 10-5 on Thursday night.
Pedro Alvarez hit a go-ahead, two-run double to start a seven-run fifth and matched his career high for RBIs in a season with 85. Russell Martin and Gaby Sanchez added sacrifice flies and Tabata had a three-run double in his second plate appearance of the inning.
Marco Scutaro had a tying two-run single in the fourth for San Francisco after scoring in the third on Buster Posey's sacrifice fly.
Giants right-hander Matt Cain departed after getting hit on his pitching arm on a line drive by Sanchez. X-rays on Cain's bruised forearm were negative.
Jones' 12th homer leading off the second was a splash-hit drive into McCovey Cove beyond the right-field wall. It was the 28th at AT&T Park by an opponent and second by a Pirates player. Adam LaRoche hit one on Aug. 11, 2007, against Tim Lincecum.
