PHILADELPHIA—Ken Griffey Jr. remained one shy of 600 home runs after getting the night off, but Philadelphia’s Chase Utley hit his major league-leading 21st homer to help the Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-4 on Monday night.

Utley went deep for the fifth straight game, tying a club record he shares with Dick Allen, Mike Schmidt and Bobby Abreu. Utley also homered in five consecutive games earlier this season.

Pedro Feliz and Chris Coste also connected for the NL East-leading Phillies. Rookie sensation Jay Bruce and Edwin Encarnacion went deep for the Reds.

Bruce had two hits in his first three at-bats, making him 15-for-25 overall. The last player to have at least 15 hits in his first 25 major league at-bats was Chris C. Jones of the Reds in 1991, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Bruce finished 2-for-4.

Kyle Kendrick (5-2) gave up four runs and five hits in 5 1-3 innings for the win.

Reds starter Bronson Arroyo (4-5) allowed five runs and 10 hits in 4 1-3 innings.



Braves 7, Marlins 5

ATLANTA—John Smoltz blew a save in his return to the mound as a closer, but Yunel Escobar picked him up with the first game-ending homer of his career, a two-run shot in the 10th inning to lift the Braves over Florida.

Pitching in relief for the first time since 2004, Smoltz came on in the ninth with a 4-3 lead. The Marlins were down to their last out when Jeremy Hermida drove in two runs with a single.

But Jeff Francoeur hustled home on a wild pitch in the bottom half to get Smoltz off the hook, and Escobar won it in the 10th with a drive that bounced off the top of the wall in right center and into the seats.

In the 10th, Logan Kensing (3-1) walked Kelly Johnson, then surrendered Escobar’s fifth homer of the season.

Will Ohman (2-0) earned the win with a scoreless top half of the 10th.



Pirates 5, Cardinals 4

ST. LOUIS—Jason Michaels hit a tying pinch-hit grand slam in the seventh and Jason Bay drove in the winning run an inning later as Pittsburgh rallied past St. Louis.

Michaels, batting for Raul Chavez, hit his first home run of the season on the first pitch he saw from starter Adam Wainwright. The two-out blast landed in the Pirates’ bullpen and was just the second hit of the inning. It was his first homer with the Pirates and his first since hitting one against Texas on Aug. 1, 2007, while with Cleveland.

Wainwright (5-3) allowed just one single to Jack Wilson through five innings and faced the minimum after getting Freddy Sanchez to ground into a double play. Signs of fatigue started showing in the sixth during which the Pirates got two two-out singles, but Wainwright escaped without allowing a run.

He then gave up a double to Bay and walked two to bring up Michaels in the seventh.

In the eighth, Nate McLouth singled to center and advanced to second on a sacrifice by Wilson. Bay broke the tie one out later with a single to right field.



Brewers 4, Diamondbacks 3

MILWAUKEE—Prince Fielder homered to leadoff the eighth and helped scratch across another run with an unlikely steal of third to lift Milwaukee to a victory over Arizona.

Fielder, who went 3-for-4, drove a fastball by Arizona reliever Doug Slaten (0-2) deep to left-center field where it bounced off a stadium support just below a “Vote Brewers” All-Star banner to give Milwaukee its first lead, 4-3.

It was Fielder’s third homer in the last four games and ninth this year. The Brewers have won four in a row.

But it was almost all for naught following a tenuous ninth.

The Brewers committed a pair of throwing errors by catcher Jason Kendall and third baseman Bill Hall to put men on first and second in the ninth. After a sacrifice bunt by Chris Snyder, who homered and drove in two, put runners in scoring position, reliever Salomon Torres walked the bases loaded.

But pinch hitter Augie Ojeda popped out and Stephen Drew struck out looking for Torres’ sixth save.

Brewers reliever Guillermo Mota (2-3) earned the win with a perfect eighth.