Cubs 5, Cardinals 3

Chicago – Daryle Ward hit a grand slam in the third inning, and Derrek Lee had three hits to help Chicago beat St. Louis.

Sean Marshall (6-6) pitched five-plus innings for Chicago, which has won three straight after a four-game skid. It was just its seventh win in 17 games.

Albert Pujols, Juan Encarnacion and Brendan Ryan homered for the Cardinals, who fell four games back of the NL Central-leading Cubs. St. Louis has dropped the first two games of the key series after coming in with a five-game winning streak.

The start of the game was delayed 1 hour, 1 minute by rain and was played during occasional showers. It picked up and halted the game in the top of the eighth inning with two outs and two strikes on Chris Duncan. After a 1-hour, 5-minute delay, reliever Carmen Pignatiello struck out Duncan on one pitch to end the inning.

Marshall, who was 0-2 in his previous three starts, allowed two runs and five hits. Five relievers combined to finish it up, with Ryan Dempster pitching a perfect ninth for his 19th save in 21 opportunities.

Giants 4, Marlins 3

Miami – Barry Bonds extended baseball’s home run record to 760 with a two-run shot that lifted San Francisco over Florida. It was the 26th homer of the season for Bonds.

Brewers 8, Reds 4

Milwaukee – Gabe Gross and Geoff Jenkins each hit three-run homers to lead Milwaukee past Cincinnati, ending the Brewers’ five-game losing streak. Milwaukee stayed within a half-game of NL Central-leading Chicago.

Pirates 11, Phillies 6

Pittsburgh – Third baseman Abraham Nunez’s two-run throwing error put Pittsburgh in the lead for the first time, and the Pirates withstood Philadelphia’s four-run first inning.

Mets 7, Nationals 4

Washington – Luis Castillo homered for the first time in more than a year, and David Wright hit a tiebreaking two-run double. Castillo and Wright drove in two runs apiece to back left-hander Oliver Perez (11-8).

Diamondbacks 12, Braves 6

Atlanta – Rookie right-hander Micah Owings went 4-for-4, including a pair of mammoth homers, drove in six runs and scored four times while pitching three-hit ball through seven innings.

Astros 3, Padres 2

San Diego – Roy Oswalt left because of a strained oblique one out before he would have qualified for the decision, and Houston lost slugger Carlos Lee because of a strained hip flexor.