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Padres' minor league fill-in beats Braves with pinch HR

Kyle Phillips doesn't know how long he will have to impress San Diego manager Bud Black. Phillips did a good job of it yesterday in Atlanta.

Kyle Phillips doesn't know how long he will have to impress San Diego manager Bud Black.

Phillips did a good job of it yesterday in Atlanta.

The rookie catcher broke a 2-all tie in the 10th inning with a pinch-hit homer and the Padres held off the Braves, 3-2, for their third straight win.

"It's a huge deal," said Phillips, who has a .167 average in 30 at-bats. He is on the 25-man roster as Rob Johnson's backup while Nick Hundley recovers from a strained muscle in his right side.

He led off the 10th by hitting the second pitch from George Sherrill (1-1) into the rightfield seats.

"He threw me a breaking ball that he left up a little bit, and I just put a good swing on it," Phillips said. "It's really nice to do it for the Padres. They're my hometown team, the team I grew up watching."

Phillips' previous stint in the majors came during five games with Toronto in 2009.

"It's the major leagues," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "If you can swing the bat, you can hit one out."

In other games:

* At Phoenix, Miguel Montero drove in five runs, Justin Upton went 5-for-5 with three RBI and Kelly Johnson drove in three runs with a double, triple and two homers to lead Arizona to its seventh consecutive victory, 15-4 over Florida. The Diamondbacks maintained their half-game lead over San Francisco in the NL West, and the Marlins fell to three behind the Phillies in the East.

* At St. Louis, Madison Bumgarner won his second straight after losing his first six decisions and Andres Torres gave the National League's worst offense a big boost with his first career grand slam in the San Francisco Giants' 7-3 victory over the Cardinals. Kyle McClellan (6-2) was knocked out after four innings.

Giants outfielder Aaron Rowand bruised his right hip when he was struck by the ball diving into second base on a pickoff attempt in the fifth and was taken out in the bottom of the inning.

* At Cincinnati, Jay Bruce hit a three-run homer and Travis Wood improved to 4-3 as the Reds rebounded from a 2-8 road trip with a 7-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers saw their road record fall to a National League-worst 8-18.

* At New York, Josh Thole hit a tiebreaking double in the seventh inning and the Mets, without shortstop Jose Reyes, beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-3.

Dillon Gee (5-0) pitched seven solid innings, striking out a career-high eight in the rookie's latest impressive outing, and New York had another productive day at the plate. After collecting a season-high 17 hits Sunday to prevent a three-game sweep by the Phillies, they followed it up with 15 against starter Charlie Morton and the Pirates.

Reyes was placed on the bereavement list earlier in the day. He flew home to the Dominican Republic after learning that his grandmother died. To replace him on the roster, the Mets activated reliever Bobby Parnell from the disabled list.

* At Chicago, Jeff Keppinger and J.R. Towles homered and the Houston Astros rallied to beat the Cubs, 12-7. Clint Barmes and Hunter Pence also added back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning as the Astros overcame a 6-3 deficit en route to ending a three-game losing streak.

Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano left the game after straining his left quadriceps in the first inning. He will have an MRI.

* At Los Angeles, James Loney and Andre Ethier each drove in three runs as the Dodgers beat Colorado, 7-1.

Noteworthy

* Former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tom Lasorda, 83, is recovering at home from a bacterial infection that caused him to be hospitalized for 4 days last week.

* Pittsburgh placed catcher Ryan Doumit (ankle sprain) and infielder Steve Pearce (calf strain) on the 15-day disabled list.