Chicago ? Kerry Wood had a memorable day on the mound and at the plate.

Wood homered and allowed four hits in eight innings Saturday, leading the Chicago Cubs over the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-0.

“It was his best outing in a long time,” Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. “He got his pitch count up a little bit early in the game, but he settled down later. It was a wonderful day for Woody.”

Wood (7-5) struck out seven and walked three as Chicago won for just the third time in eight games and took a one-game lead over San Diego in the NL wild-card race. He hit his seventh homer in 305 career at-bats in the third inning off Kazuhisa Ishii (11-6), a drive into the left-field bleachers against a 15 mph wind.

Chicago added a run in the fifth when Michael Barrett tripled leading off and scored on Corey Patterson’s two-out single.

Wood worked out of trouble in the second inning after David Ross doubled with two outs and Alex Cora held at third. Ishii ended the inning with a groundout, starting a streak of eight straight batters retired for Wood.

Pinch-hitter Jason Grabowski walked with one out in the eighth and Cesar Izturis singled, but Steve Finley grounded out, and, after Milton Bradley loaded the bases with a walk, Adrian Beltre struck out when he wasn’t able to check his swing on Wood’s slider.

Reds 11, Padres 5

Cincinnati — Wily Mo Pena homered twice and drove in four runs, helping Cincinnati beat San Diego. Pena and Darren Bragg hit home runs on back-to-back pitches from Brian Lawrence to spark a six-run sixth inning. In the next inning, Pena followed Adam Dunn’s major-league leading 36th homer of the season with his 21st on consecutive pitches from Rod Beck. Bragg, who just joined the Reds on Thursday, went 3-for-3 and fell a triple short of the cycle.

Expos 8, Astros 3

Chicago's Kerry Wood delivers against Los Angeles. Wood allowed four hits in eight innings and hit a home run in the Cubs' 2-0 victory Saturday in Chicago.

Montreal — Nick Johnson hit his first NL grand slam, Tony Armas Jr. pitched five hitless innings before leaving because of a high pitch count, and Montreal beat Houston to stretch its season-best winning streak to seven. Brad Wilkerson hit a disputed homer leading off the first, and Johnson hit his second career grand slam. Montreal has won 10 of its last 13 games and 16 of 21. Armas, pitching for the first time in 18 days and limited to 77 pitches, became the second straight Expos starter to have a hitless outing. Jon Rauch held the Astros hitless through 42/3 innings Friday before leaving because of a strained left oblique muscle.

Mets 4, D’backs 3

New York — Cliff Floyd homered and drove in three runs, and New York beat Arizona, extending the Diamondbacks’ losing streak to nine games. Al Leiter (9-4) worked into the seventh inning to earn the victory.

Marlins 11, Brewers 1

Milwaukee — Jeff Conine’s third grand slam of the season highlighted Florida’s seven-run ninth inning, and the Marlins routed Milwaukee. Dontrelle Willis threw seven strong innings, and Paul Lo Duca and Miguel Cabrera each drove in two runs for the Marlins, who pounded out 12 hits in their largest victory of the year. Florida had lost six of its last seven games on the road. Willis (9-8) allowed one run and seven hits, struck out six and walked one for his second win in six starts since the All-Star break.

Pirates 6, Rockies 1

Pittsburgh — Jose Castillo drove in a career-high three runs to back Oliver Perez, and Pittsburgh beat Colorado. Castillo and Craig Wilson homered for the Pirates, who had lost two straight after winning four in a row. Pittsburgh is 16-6 when hitting two or more home runs. Castillo, a rookie second baseman, was 3-for-4 with two singles.

Braves 9, Cardinals 7

Atlanta — Chipper Jones homered twice, and pinch-hitter Julio Franco had a go-ahead, two-run double in the seventh inning to lead Atlanta over St. Louis, only the third loss in the Cardinals’ last 11 games. In a matchup of division leaders, Andruw Jones and Rafael Furcal also homered for the Braves, who opened a season-high eight-game lead over second-place Philadelphia in the NL East. Furcal had four hits for Atlanta, 21-7 since the All-Star break. Albert Pujols homered twice for St. Louis, raising his total to 35 — one short of Cincinnati’s Adam Dunn for the major-league lead and tying Philadelphia’s Jim Thome.

Giants 7, Phillies 6

Philadelphia — Yorvit Torrealba hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning, leading San Francisco over Philadelphia. Cody Ransom, Dustan Mohr and Marquis Grissom also homered for San Francisco, which has won three in a row for the first time in a month.