Barajas sparks Mets to win

Mets 9, Phillies 1

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Rod Barajas homered twice, Jonathon Niese (1-1) pitched seven impressive innings and the surging New York Mets routed the Philadelphia Phillies 9-1 on Friday night for their eighth straight victory.

David Wright and Jeff Francoeur also homered for the Mets, riding their longest winning streak since a 10-game run in July 2008.

Niese (1-1) shut down Philadelphia's powerful lineup, allowing one run and four hits for his third major league win and first since July 25, 2009, at Houston. He matched a career high with seven strikeouts.

The left-hander yielded Carlos Ruiz's RBI single in the second, then retired 14 straight until Jayson Werth's single leading off the seventh.

Wright and Francoeur connected during a three-run second inning against Kyle Kendrick (0-1).

Braves 4, Astros 2

ATLANTA (AP) - Jason Heyward hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer and Tommy Hanson pitched eight innings to help the Atlanta Braves end their nine-game losing streak.

Heyward homered for the second consecutive night to break a 2-all tie and Nate McLouth also went deep against Brett Myers (1-2).

Hanson (2-2) gave up two runs in the second inning and then retired 20 of his last 21 batters. He struck out seven without a walk.

Billy Wagner pitched the ninth for his second save. He walked Pedro Feliz with one out before Carlos Lee hit into a double play.

The Braves snapped their longest losing streak since they dropped 10 straight from June 11-22, 2006.

Nationals 7, Marlins 1

MIAMI (AP) - Ryan Zimmerman homered twice and the Washington Nationals won their third straight.

It was Zimmerman's first start since April 21 due to a hamstring injury, and he quickly made up for lost time, connecting both times on a full count against starter Ricky Nolasco.

Scott Olsen (2-1) pitched six scoreless innings, giving up five hits and striking out four. He got his first win in four starts against his former club since being acquired by Washington in November 2008.

Nolasco (2-1) gave up five runs on eight hits over a season-low four innings, while striking out seven.

Cubs 11, Diamondbacks 5

CHICAGO (AP) - Alfonso Soriano hit a three-run homer and the Chicago Cubs connected for four in all while rallying to beat Arizona.

Kosuke Fukudome, Geovany Soto and Marlon Byrd added solo shots as the Cubs shook off a 13-5 beating by the Diamondbacks and stopped a three-game skid.

The big blow was Soriano's three-run drive off Rodrigo Lopez (1-1), capping a four-run sixth that put Chicago ahead 6-4 and made a winner of Randy Wells (3-0). The Cubs broke it open with three in the seventh, getting two bases-loaded walks, after Chris Snyder led off the top half with a homer.