Phillies 8, Braves 7

Atlanta – Ryan Howard rallied Philadelphia back into first place, hitting a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning for his fourth hit in a victory over Atlanta Brad Lidge escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth and Philadelphia moved a half-game in front of the fading New York Mets, who lost, 1-0, at Washington.

D’backs 2, Giants 0

Phoenix – Dan Haren struck out 12 in his first career shutout.

Marlins 5, Astros 1

Miami – Jorge Cantu hit a three-run homer, and rookie Chris Volstad allowed one run in eight innings. It was the third straight loss for the Astros. Cantu’s three-run homer in the first inning stopped Houston ace Roy Oswalt’s franchise-record scoreless innings streak at 321â3 innings.

Cubs 5, Brewers 4

Chicago – Ryan Dempster gained his 16th win, and Chicago handed CC Sabathia his first National League loss while sending Milwaukee to its fifth straight defeat to spoil interim manager Dale Sveum’s debut.

Reds 4, Cardinals 2

Cincinnati – Bronson Arroyo set a single-season career high for wins, and Edwin Encarnacion hit a three-run double.

Arroyo (15-10), who had allowed just two homers in his previous eight starts, gave up two in seven innings, but he still lasted long enough to improve to 5-0 in his last six starts and help send the Cardinals to their season-high sixth consecutive loss.

Rockies 10, Padres 3

Denver – Chris Iannetta hit his first career grand slam, and Jeff Baker had a three-run homer. Ubaldo Jimenez pitched seven strong innings and Baker had three hits and three RBIs for the Rockies.

Nationals 1, Mets 0

Washington – Odalis Perez shut down the slumping Mets into the eighth inning and scored the only run of the game. New York, which began the day leading the NL East by a half-game over Philadelphia, lost for the fourth time in five games.

Dodgers 6, Pirates 2

Pittsburgh – Derek Lowe held Pittsburgh to five singles over seven effective innings to remain unbeaten in his career against the Pirates.

Casey Blake homered and tripled his first two times up after sitting out the Dodgers’ 8-2 win Monday night due to lower back stiffness.