Tuesday’s N.L. results

Brewers 9, Astros 1: At Houston, Johnny Estrada hit his second grand slam of the season against the Astros and Milwaukee rolled to a victory and moved into first place in the Central Division – less than a percentage point ahead of Chicago.

Reds 5, Cubs 2: At Chicago, Aaron Harang allowed six hits and two runs in seven innings to outpitch Carlos Zambrano again. He is now 3-0 against Chicago’s ace in 2007.

Nationals 9, Mets 8: At Washington, John Maine squandered a big lead and New York’s losing streak reached five in a loss to the Nationals.

Phillies 7, Cardinals 4 (14): At St. Louis, Rod Barajas singled home the go-ahead run with two outs in the top of the 14th and Philadelphia outlasted the Cardinals.

Braves 4, Marlins 3: At Atlanta, the Braves scored all their runs on two-out singles in a win over Florida.

Rockies 3-9, Dodgers 1-8: At Denver, Todd Helton’s two-run homer off Takashi Saito with two outs in the bottom of the ninth gave Colorado a second-game win over Los Angeles and a doubleheader sweep. The Rockies won the opener behind Jeff Francis, who struck out a career-high 10 batters.

Diamondbacks 5, Giants 0: At Phoenix, Micah Owings threw a two-hit shutout to lift Arizona over San Francisco.

Padres 5, Pirates 3: At San Diego, Greg Maddux slogged through five innings – issuing his first walk in 10 starts – and the Padres beat Pittsburgh.

Associated Press