Ramirez goes hitless in return to Dodgers

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Manny Ramirez returned from his 50-game suspension for violating baseball's drug policy and he barely hit the ball out of the infield in Los Angeles' 6-3 victory over San Diego on Friday night.

With more than half the crowd at sold-out Petco Park wearing Dodger blue and cheering him on, Ramirez went 0 for 3 with a walk. The farthest he hit the ball was a popup caught in shallow center field.

Ramirez popped up to end the sixth and was taken out of the game.

Rafael Furcal had four hits for the Dodgers and Russell Martin drove in two runs.

Hiroki Kuroda (3-4) and four relievers combined to hold the Padres to four hits. Jonathan Broxton pitched a perfect ninth for his 12th straight save and 20th in 22 chances.

The Dodgers took a 5-0 lead in the first against Chad Gaudin (4-7) on four hits, two walks and two throwing errors on the same play.

Cardinals 7, Reds 4

CINCINNATI (AP) - Albert Pujols hit his club-record fourth grand slam of the season, and Jarrett Hoffpauir drove in the go-ahead runs in the ninth inning with his first career hit for St. Louis.

Hoffpauir, playing his first major league game after being recalled Wednesday from Triple-A Memphis, capitalized on shortstop Paul Janish's two-out error with a bases-loaded single off Daniel Ray Herrera (1-4) to snap a 4-4 tie.

The win gave the Cardinals sole possession of first place in the NL Central, a game ahead of Milwaukee.

Pujols gave the Cardinals a 4-3 lead in the eighth with his 10th career slam, also a team record, but the Reds tied it on Ramon Hernandez's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning.

Pujols, who leads the majors with 31 home runs and 82 RBIs, added an RBI double in the ninth.

Jason Motte (3-2) got two outs in the eighth for the win. Ryan Franklin allowed a hit and a two walks in the ninth before striking out Brandon Phillips for his 20th save in 21 opportunities.

Giants 13, Astros 0

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Pablo Sandoval hit a two-run homer to stake San Francisco rookie Ryan Sadowski to an early lead.

Travis Ishikawa added a three-run homer that was initially ruled a double before the umpire crew went to the replay booth, Randy Winn added a two-run triple and Nate Schierholtz an RBI single in the Giants' six-run second inning that chased Felipe Paulino (2-5). San Francisco, which had 14 of its 15 hits by the third inning, snapped a six-game losing streak to the Astros.

The Giants' runs were a season high and this was their majors-best 10th shutout. Jonathan Sanchez pitched two innings of relief to finish it.

Sadowski has 13 scoreless innings to start his career, the longest such streak by a Giant since Mike Remlinger's 15 shutout innings in 1991, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Rockies 5, Diamondbacks 0

DENVER (AP) - Jorge De La Rosa pitched eight innings and Ian Stewart hit a solo homer for Colorado.

The Rockies have won a season-best six straight at Coors Field, and moved to 24-9 overall since Jim Tracy replaced Clint Hurdle as manager.

De La Rosa (5-7), who has never had a complete game, won for the fifth time in six starts, allowing four hits and striking out six. The left-hander got 14 groundball outs.

Max Scherzer (5-6) allowed six hits over six innings as the Diamondbacks lost for the eighth time in nine games.

The Diamondbacks had three more errors, running their season total to a major league-leading 74.

Stewart's homer in the second was his 15th of the season and it ended a 12-inning scoreless streak by Colorado.

Pirates 7, Marlins 4

MIAMI (AP) - Brandon Moss and Ramon Vazquez homered and Charlie Morton pitched six shutout innings for Pittsburgh.

Hanley Ramirez failed to drive in a run for the first time in 11 games for Florida, which was coming off a three-game sweep of Washington.

Morton (1-1) gave up one hit, walked four and struck out four as the Pirates beat Florida for the fourth straight time and improved to 14-8 against the NL East.

Andrew McCutchen's run-scoring double and Jack Wilson's two-run double highlighted a three-run seventh that gave Pittsburgh a 7-0 lead.

John Baker had three RBIs, including a two-run homer in the ninth for the Marlins.

Florida starter Chris Volstad (5-8) allowed four runs and three hits in three innings.

Braves 9, Nationals 8

WASHINGTON (AP) - Pinch-hitter Brooks Conrad hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the seventh inning and Atlanta won its season-high fifth straight.

Conrad, a 29-year-old rookie whose contract was purchased from Triple-A Gwinnett to replace the injured Kelly Johnson, crushed a fastball from Jesus Colome (1-1) for his first career homer.

Boone Logan (1-0) pitched 1 2-3 perfect innings in relief. Rafael Soriano worked the ninth for his eighth save, despite yielding Cristian Guzman's two-out, two-run double.

Chipper Jones, Diaz and Escobar drove in two runs apiece for the Braves.

Adam Dunn hit his 21st homer, the 299th of his career, for the Nationals, who lost their fourth straight. Guzman had three RBIs.

Phillies 7, Mets 2

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Rodrigo Lopez took a three-hitter into the seventh inning in his first outing in two years, helping Philadelphia snap a six-game home losing streak.

Lopez (1-0) allowed two runs and six hits in 6 1-3 innings to earn his first win since beating the Phillies on July 7, 2007, when he played for Colorado. The right-hander hadn't pitched in the majors since having elbow ligament replacement surgery 23 months ago.

The NL East-leading Phillies were swept by Toronto and Baltimore in consecutive three-game series at Citizens Bank Park last month. They won for just the fifth time in 19 games.

Mets starter Livan Hernandez (5-4) lasted three-plus innings, allowing seven runs and 10 hits.

Jayson Werth hit a solo homer and Jimmy Rollins had two hits and two RBIs for the Phillies.

Cubs 2, Brewers 1, 10 innings

CHICAGO (AP) - Chicago's Jake Fox drew a bases-loaded walk from Mark DiFelice to force in the winning run with two outs in the 10th inning.

Ryan Theriot singled off second baseman Craig Counsell's glove with one out in the 10th and went to second on a wild pitch from DiFelice (4-1). After Theriot moved up on a fly ball, the Brewers intentionally walked Milton Bradley. With a 3-0 count on pinch-hitter Geovany Soto, DeFelice walked him intentionally to load the bases.

Fox fouled off four straight pitches before walking on a close 3-2 pitch that had DiFelice extending his arms and walking toward plate umpire Bill Welke as the Cubs celebrated.

The Brewers' run came in the fourth when Carlos Zambrano walked Corey Hart with the bases loaded. The Cubs tied it in the fifth on Zambrano's RBI single off Jeff Suppan.

Kevin Gregg (3-2) allowed one hit in two innings for the win.