Nationals 11, Dodgers 2

Washington – Cristian Guzman hit for the cycle, and Elijah Dukes had two home runs. Guzman finished the cycle with an RBI triple in the eighth inning off reliever Joe Beimel. He’s the second Washington player to hit for the cycle after Brad Wilkerson did it on April 6, 2005. It was also the eighth cycle in franchise history, including the team’s days in Montreal.

Guzman hit a solo homer to start a five-run first inning for Washington.

Astros 3, Reds 2

Houston – Ty Wigginton homered twice off Aaron Harang, and Brandon Backe was sharp into the seventh inning. Humberto Quintero added a solo shot to help Houston beat Cincinnati for the 10th time in 12 meetings this season.

Backe (9-12) had one of his best outings of an inconsistent month, allowing six hits and striking out six in 62â3 innings. He was 2-2 in his previous four decisions, allowing 11 runs in each of the losses and a total of four runs in the two wins.

LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless eighth, and Jose Valverde struck out the side in the ninth for his 35th save.

Braves 4, Marlins 2

Atlanta – Brian McCann hit a three-run homer, Charlie Morton finally figured out how to pitch at home, and Atlanta beat Florida.

The Marlins are 10-15 in August, haven’t won two games in a row this month and fell six games behind the idle New York Mets in the NL East. Florida begins a critical three-game series at home against the Mets today.

The win was only the fourth in 17 games for the Braves, who are a dismal 14-25 since the All-Star break and long ago fell out of playoff contention.

Cubs 6, Phillies 4

Chicago – Aramis Ramirez’s grand slam capped a five-run eighth inning, and Chicago won its sixth straight game, rallying past Philadelphia.

The surging Cubs moved to 34 games over .500. Ramirez sent the roaring 40,362 fans at Wrigley Field into a tizzy when he drove reliever Chad Durbin’s pitch into the center-field bleachers to complete the comeback.

The game marked the first time instant replay was available for boundary home run calls, but it wasn’t used.