Clayton Richard (10-5) earned his third straight win over the Giants this season, helping San Diego extend its division lead to 3 1/2 games over San Francisco in a game the Padres played under protest. It became a moot point when they won.

The Padres quieted Jonathan Sanchez (8-8), who no-hit them here July 10, 2009, after he guaranteed a sweep of San Diego following his outing at Atlanta last Sunday.

The Padres took the lead in the sixth when a sliding Ludwick beat the close play at the plate on Chase Headley’s grounder. That came moments after hefty San Francisco third baseman Pablo Sandoval ran down the line and made a forward-diving tag on Adrian Gonzalez to save a run.

Mets 1  Phillies 0: At New York, knuckleballer R.A. Dickey threw a one-hitter, allowing a sixth-inning single to pitcher Cole Hamels , and the Mets shut out the Phillies once again at Citi Field.

The Mets blanked the high-scoring Phillies for the fourth straight time at home. New York outscored their NL East rivals 16-0 during a three-game sweep in late May, a string started by Dickey.

David Wright and Carlos Beltran hit consecutive doubles with two outs in the sixth for the lone run, sending the Mets to their first two-game winning streak since June 22-23.

Hit hard by the Phillies in his last start, Dickey (8-5) baffled them all evening this time, striking out seven in his second career shutout.

Braves 1 Dodgers 0: At Atlanta, Tim Hudson extended his dominant stretch of starts with three-hit ball for eight innings and Brooks Conrad homered in the seventh for Atlanta.

Hudson (14-5) has won five straight starts, yielding only two runs in the impressive period.

Billy Wagner , who picked up his seventh blown save opportunity against Houston on Wednesday, finished for his 29th save. Scott Podsednik hit a leadoff single but was caught stealing with one out before Wagner struck out Andre Ethier to end the game.

Cardinals 6 Cubs 3: At St. Louis, Albert Pujols homered for the sixth time in 11 games and Jake Westbrook got his first win in three tries since joining St. Louis at the trade deadline.

Yadier Molina , whose objection to getting his shin guards tapped by Brandon Phillips’ bat sparked a fracas with the Reds on Tuesday, got a prolonged standing ovation before singling in the second inning. Molina added a pair of sacrifice flies.

The Cardinals won their fourth in a row without manager Tony La Russa, who served the first of a two-game suspension for his role in the Reds scrum. Colby Rasmus walked four times, two more than his previous high.

Reds 7 Marlins 2: At Cincinnati, Scott Rolen snapped out of a slump with three hits against an ineffective Josh Johnson , helping Edinson Volquez and the Reds get the victory.

Jay Bruce homered for the first time since June 30 and drove in three runs for Cincinnati, which bounced back from an embarrassing three-game sweep by St. Louis. Joey Votto had two hits and two RBIs.

Highly touted rookie Mike Stanton homered twice for Florida, which had won four straight.

Volquez (3-1), in his sixth start since coming back from Tommy John surgery, allowed one run and eight hits in six innings.

Rockies 5 Brewers 4: At Denver, Troy Tulowitzki hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning as the Rockies rallied to get the win.

With runners on second and third and no outs, Kameron Loe (2-3) relieved starter Yovani Gallardo and Tulowitzki hit an 0-1 pitch off the glove of a leaping Ryan Braun at the left-field wall. Tulowitzki stood near first base before resuming his home-run trot after it was clear Braun was unable to catch the ball.

Todd Helton drew a leadoff walk and Carlos Gonzalez doubled down the left-field line before Tulowitzki’s 11th homer.

Nationals 4 Diamondbacks 2: At Washington, John Lannan pitched seven strong innings, Ian Desmond had three hits and Washington snapped a five-game losing streak.

Lannan (4-5) allowed two runs and four hits to win his second consecutive start and earn his first win at home since Aug. 5, 2009, against Florida. The left-hander is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA in three starts since he returned from a six-week stay at Double-A Harrisburg.

Ryan Zimmerman also drove in two runs for Washington, which got off to a strong start against Joe Saunders (1-2). Sean Burnett retired all six batters he faced for his second save.

Astros 4  Pirates 1: At Houston, Carlos Lee hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to power the Astros to the victory.

Houston was down before Lee connected against All-Star reliever Evan Meek (4-4), belting a drive to the Crawford Boxes in left. Angel Sanchez hit a one-out single and Hunter Pence walked before Lee’s 15th homer.

The Astros kept going after Lee’s go-ahead shot, putting together three consecutive singles. Rookie Brett Wallace’s hit scored Geoff Blum to make it 4-1.

The Pirates wasted a great start by Ross Ohlendorf in their fifth consecutive loss, dropping to a major league-worst 39-76.