Diamondbacks Take Lead in West

Eric Byrnes and Chad Tracy hit consecutive home runs, and the host Arizona Diamondbacks moved into first place in the National League West with a 5-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night.

With their fifth straight win over San Diego this season, the Diamondbacks took a half-game lead over the Padres and the Colorado Rockies.

Arizona won a game that starting pitcher Orlando Hernandez left with a mid-back strain in the third inning. Jason Grimsley (1-1) pitched three scoreless innings for the win. Jose Valverde pitched the ninth for his 12th save in 13 opportunities.

Jake Peavy (3-4) gave up three runs and six hits, including the homers to Byrnes and Tracy, in five innings.

Chicago 4, Washington 0 -- Carlos Zambrano pitched eight scoreless innings, and Aramis Ramirez and Todd Walker drove in two runs apiece at Chicago.

Zambrano (2-2) had his third straight strong start and his second win in a row for the Cubs, who ended a four-game skid. Zambrano started off 0-2 over his first seven starts, but he’s given up only one run over 23 innings in his last three outings.

Atlanta 4, Florida 3 -- Matt Diaz singled in the winning run in the 11th inning at Atlanta.

The Marlins took a 2-1 lead to the ninth but Jeff Francoeur tied it with a homer that barely cleared the center-field fence.

The Marlins went ahead in the 11th, taking advantage of a defensive blunder by pitcher Macay McBride. But McBride (1-0) got the win when the Braves scored twice in the bottom half.

New York 8, St. Louis 3 -- Tom Glavine won his fourth straight start and Paul Lo Duca’s run-scoring double ended a seventh-inning tie at St. Louis.

The game was delayed 1 hour 41 minutes by rain in the middle of the seventh. The Mets tacked on four runs in the eighth, aided by a throwing error by Albert Pujols, who had a scary-looking slip on the plastic on-deck logo while chasing a foul pop in the inning but remained in the game.

Pittsburgh 9, Cincinnati 3 -- The Pirates’ Paul Maholm took a shutout into the eighth inning, and Jeromy Burnitz came out of a three-for-36 slump to drive in four runs at Pittsburgh. The Reds lost their fourth in a row and eighth in 12 games.

Milwaukee 3, Philadelphia 2 -- Bill Hall scored the winning run on a throwing error by Ryan Franklin in the ninth inning at Milwaukee. Damian Miller bunted to the third base side of the mound and Franklin (1-3) fired wildly to David Bell at third, allowing Hall to coast home on the error.