ATLANTA -- Ryan Howard hit a three-run homer, Pat Burrell added his second homer of the series and the Philadelphia Phillies survived a ninth-inning scare to beat the Atlanta Braves 7-3 on Wednesday night.
The Phillies improved to 5-0 in Atlanta this season and 7-1 overall in the season series.
The Braves (40-45) fell a season-worst five games under .500 with their second straight loss in the series, despite homers from Chipper Jones and Ruben Gotay.
Jones, playing his second game after missing eight straight starts with a strained right quadriceps, hit his 17th homer off J.C. Romero in the eighth, cutting the Phillies' lead to 5-3.
The Phillies answered with two runs in the ninth. Jimmy Rollins' triple drove in Eric Bruntlett, and Chase Utley added a run-scoring single.
Burrell hit a homer Tuesday night to give the Phillies three players with 20 or more homers before the All-Star break for the first time in team history. Burrell added his 21st homer in the fifth inning Wednesday night after Howard's three-run shot, also his 21st, gave the Phillies a 4-0 lead in the third. Full story
Pirates 9, Reds 5
CINCINNATI -- Xavier Nady homered twice and drove in four runs, leading Pittsburgh to a victory over the Cincinnati Reds shortly after the Pirates lost yet another pitcher to injury.
Closer Matt Capps will be gone for about eight weeks after a medical test detected bursitis and tightness in his pitching shoulder. Capps is the fourth Pittsburgh pitcher to wind up on the disabled list in the last two weeks.
The rest of the bullpen came through, helping the Pirates win back-to-back road games for only the second time this season.
Denny Bautista (1-0), obtained in a trade with Detroit last week, got the victory in relief of John Van Benschoten, who fizzled in his homecoming. Jay Bruce homered twice off Van Benschoten, a 2001 first-round draft pick who grew up in suburban Cincinnati admiring Pete Rose and the Bengals.
Rockies 8, Padres 1
DENVER -- Garrett Atkins, Troy Tulowitzki and Yorvit Torrealba homered to help the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres.
Atkins drove in four runs and Ubaldo Jimenez pitched into the seventh inning for his second win in his last three starts.
Colorado scored seven runs in the first three innings against Randy Wolf (5-8), who lasted just four innings.
Atkins singled in a run in the first and followed Matt Holliday's RBI single in the third with a three-run drive to left-center, his 11th of the year. Tulowitzki added a two-run homer in the third, his third of the year.
Brewers 4, Diamondbacks 3
PHOENIX -- Mike Cameron singled home Russell Branyan with one out in the top of the ninth to lift the Milwaukee Brewers to a victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Cameron finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and Rickie Weeks added his first career pinch-hit home run for the Brewers, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit for their second straight win.
The Diamondbacks, who left 12 on base and had two runners thrown out at home, lost for the eighth time in 11 games. Their lead in the NL West over the Los Angeles Dodgers slipped to 1½ games.
David Riske (1-1) earned the win after surrendering a game-tying homer to Justin Upton in the bottom of the eighth. Salomon Torres pitched the ninth for his 15th save in 17 chances.
