Padres 5, Brewers 2

Will Venable hit his first career homer, and San Diego beat Milwaukee, handing the slumping Brewers their fourth straight loss.

Nick Hundley and Luis Rodriguez each drove in two runs for San Diego, which had lost nine straight on the road and is tied with Washington and Seattle for the fewest wins in the majors.

With all of the NL’s playoff hopefuls taking the day off, maybe Milwaukee should have, too. The Brewers’ wild-card lead was trimmed to four games over Philadelphia, and they fell five games behind NL Central-leading Chicago with 22 games left.

Fresh off being swept by the New York Mets, Milwaukee fell to 0-4 on a 10-game homestand, but this loss was much more troubling.

The Padres, mired in last in the NL West, took advantage of every opportunity Jeff Suppan (10-8) and Milwaukee gave them.

San Diego eliminated Milwaukee from postseason contention in its visit last year before the Brewers won the final two of the season to force the Padres into a one-game playoff with Colorado for the wild card that the Rockies won.

In this four-game series, only San Diego can play spoiler, but the Brewers’ problems were self-inflicted Thursday. Milwaukee stranded nine runners after leaving 26 on in the series against the Mets.

Shawn Estes (2-1), making his first start since May after being sidelined with a broken left thumb, allowed one run and seven hits over six innings for San Diego. Trevor Hoffman allowed a leadoff single to Jason Kendall in the ninth before finishing for his 28th save.

Suppan, who had won his last five decisions and posted a 3.00 earned-run average since July 1, struggled against the youthful Padres.

Reds 8, Pirates 6

Cincinnati – Joey Votto hit a solo homer and a tiebreaking, bases-loaded single in the eighth inning, completing Cincinnati’s rally from a five-run deficit.

By scoring three times in the eighth, the Reds avoided a sweep by the Pirates, who have dropped 11 of their last 13 games. Craig Hansen (0-3) couldn’t hold a one-run lead in the eighth, when his wild pitch let in the tying run.

Braves 2, Nationals 0

Atlanta – James Parr tossed six sharp innings in his major league debut, and Atlanta beat Washington. Parr (1-0) surrendered just two hits – both to Ronnie Belliard – walked three and struck out three. The 22-year-old right-hander didn’t allow a runner past second base.

Jeff Bennett worked the seventh, Julian Tavarez pitched the eighth and Mike Gonzalez got three outs to complete the five-hitter, Atlanta’s seventh shutout of the season.