NL | Braves earn fifth victory in a row

PITTSBURGH - Atlanta's Chuck James held the slumping Pittsburgh Pirates hitless until Jason Bay singled in the seventh, and Scott Thorman homered twice in leading the Braves to a 9-2 victory last night that extended their winning streak to five.

James (4-3), who has never thrown complete game in 26 major-league starts, allowed just one hit in seven innings to give the Braves' Bobby Cox his 2,195th managerial victory - the fourth most in major-league history.

Nationals 7, Marlins 3

WASHINGTON - Ryan Zimmerman's grand slam capped a five-run rally in the bottom of the ninth as Washington beat Florida. The game was delayed twice by rain and ended after 1:30 this morning.

Dodgers 7, Reds 3

LOS ANGELES - Brad Penny allowed four hits over 61/3 innings to remain unbeaten, leading Los Angeles over Cincinnati.

Penny (5-0) struck out four and retired 17 consecutive batters after giving up a one-out walk in the first to Josh Hamilton. The only run against the righthander was an RBI single by Ken Griffey Jr. right before the walk to Hamilton.

Penny's major league-leading ERA remained at 1.39.

Brewers 12, Mets 3

NEW YORK - J.J. Hardy hit a grand slam and Tony Gwynn Jr. played a fantastic all-around game to back a solid pitching performance by Ben Sheets and lead Milwaukee past sloppy New York.

Bill Hall added three hits, Gwynn scored three times from the leadoff spot, and the Brewers got two key runs on a sacrifice fly that turned into a messy double play for the Mets. Milwaukee has won 11 of 13 and 18 of 23 to improve baseball's best record to 25-11.

Astros 10, D'backs 4

HOUSTON - Luke Scott hit a three-run homer, Hunter Pence finished with three RBIs, and Houston beat Arizona.

Pence hit a solo homer and a two-run double, and Mike Lamb and Carlos Lee also had solo drives for the Astros.

Roy Oswalt (6-2) beat Arizona for the sixth time in seven career starts, allowing three runs and eight hits in six innings. The Astros ace struck out seven and has won 24 of his last 30 starts at Minute Maid Park.

Rockies 6, Giants 2

DENVER - Matt Holliday homered twice on Barry Zito's slow bender, and Jeff Francis allowed just four hits over eight innings to help Colorado beat San Francisco.

Francis (2-4) struck out five in his longest outing of the season. It's his first win since April 9.

Brian Fuentes pitched a perfect ninth for the Rockies, striking out Barry Bonds for the second out. Bonds went 0 for 3 with a walk and scored a run. He remains 10 shy of tying Hank Aaron's career record of 755.

Zito (3-4) lasted six innings, giving up six runs and six hits.

Cardinals 5, Padres 0

SAN DIEGO - Braden Looper pitched seven strong innings and So Taguchi hit a three-run double to lead St. Louis over San Diego.

Looper, the former reliever making his eighth career start, allowed just one baserunner to reach third base. He combined with Russ Springer and Tyler Johnson on a four-hitter.

Taguchi's bases-clearing double was the big blow off Chris Young (4-3) in the third inning, when St. Louis scored all five runs. Four of the runs were unearned after an error by leftfielder Terrmel Sledge.