CINCINNATI (AP) -Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 569th career homer Thursday, a two-run shot that tied him for ninth place on the career list and helped the Cincinnati Reds get a breakthrough 9-5 victory over the Houston Astros.
Houston won the first three games of the series, improving to 5-0 at Great American Ball Park this season.
Pitcher Woody Williams and the Astros make themselves at home when they come here. Williams called a vendor over to the dugout and bought four bags of peanuts during the first inning, sharing them with teammates.
Cincinnati pulled ahead 7-0 after three innings against starter Matt Albers (1-2) and held on in spite of more bullpen struggles. Adam Dunn hit a three-run homer, his sixth in the last 11 games, and added a triple and a double, coming up one single short of hitting for the cycle.
Griffey had a sacrifice fly and a two-run homer off Albers that left him tied with Rafael Palmeiro on the career list. Harmon Killebrew is eighth at 573.
Aaron Harang (5-1) struggled to hold the early lead, giving up Chris Burke’s three-run homer as Houston cut it to 7-5. David Weathers got the last five outs for his seventh save in eight tries.
Marlins 3, Dodgers 0
MIAMI (AP) – Josh Willingham hit a three-run homer off Derek Lowe with one out in the bottom of the ninth to give Florida the win.
Lowe (3-4) took a four-hitter into the ninth, but Hanley Ramirez walked to lead off, and third baseman Wilson Betemit was charged with an error when he failed to come up with a grounder ranging to his left.
Miguel Cabrera advanced the runners by tapping out to Lowe. Willingham then hit the first pitch over the scoreboard for his sixth home run, ending a tense game.
Taylor Tankersley (2-0) pitched a perfect ninth for the Marlins to complete a three-hitter.
Sergio Mitre pitched eight innings for Florida, allowing three hits and three walks.
Braves 5, Padres 3
ATLANTA (AP) – Kelly Johnson came through with a two-out, bases-loaded double in the sixth inning for Atlanta.
Tim Hudson (4-1) yielded two runs and nine hits in six innings for the first-place Braves, who went 7-3 during an 11-day stay at home.
David Wells hung a breaking ball to Johnson with the bases loaded in the sixth, and Johnson lined it into the right-field corner to make it 5-2.
The Braves have now scored a major league-leading 88 runs with two outs – more than half of their overall production.
Wells (1-2) surrendered seven hits and walked four in 5 2-3 innings.
Rafael Soriano pitched a perfect ninth for his fifth save in as many chances.
Pirates 6, Cubs 4
CHICAGO (AP) – Jason Bay homered and drove in three runs against Carlos Zambrano to lead Pittsburgh to the win.
Bay hit a two-run double in the first and led off the fifth inning with his fifth homer to help the Pirates (15-18) win their first series since they swept the Houston Astros on April 18-20.
Zambrano (3-3) gave up four earned runs and seven hits in six innings. He struck out six and walked two.
Paul Maholm (2-4) went 7 1-3 innings for the Pirates, allowing four runs and seven hits. Salomon Torres pitched a perfect ninth for his 11th save in 14 chances.
Michael Barrett, Aramis Ramirez and Angel Pagan homered for Chicago.
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