PITTSBURGH: Andrew McCutchen went 3-for-4 with a solo home run and A.J. Burnett struck out nine over seven frames as Pittsburgh downed visiting Washington 3-1.
Jordy Mercer, who was called up from the minors earlier Friday, delivered the go-ahead two-run homer in the fifth, giving Burnett the margin he needed.
Burnett (3-2) improved to 8-3 all-time against the Nationals while Jason Grilli struck out the side in the ninth for his 12th save in as many chances.
Danny Espinosa’s RBI single in the fifth accounted for the Nationals’ only run, continuing Washington’s recent offensive struggles, particularly with Ross Detwiler (1-3) on the mound.
The Nationals have scored three runs or fewer in six straight games and managed a total of three runs over Detwiler’s last three outings.
Cardinals 6 Brewers 1: Matt Holiday belted a two-run homer among his three hits and Carlos Beltran added a solo shot to power visiting St. Louis to its fourth consecutive victory.
Shelby Miller (4-2) went six strong innings, allowing one run on seven hits, to beat Milwaukee for the second time in three weeks and send the Brewers to their third straight defeat.
Jon Jay had two hits and a two-run double and Allen Craig added three hits for the Cardinals.
Kyle Lohse (1-3) was knocked around for four runs and 11 hits — both season highs — in five innings and lost to Miller and St. Louis for the second time this year.
Mets 7 Braves 5 (10)
Ruben Tejada delivered the go-ahead run with an RBI single in the 10th as visiting New York scored in each of the last three innings to claim the opener of a three-game set with National League East leader Atlanta.
Pinch hitter Jordany Valdespin started a two-out rally in the 10th with a walk against Jordan Walden (1-1), who then hit Mike Baxter with a pitch and surrendered Tejada’s sharp single to center.
Phillies 4 Marlins 1: Rookie Jonathan Pettibone pitched into the seventh inning and was backed by three solo home runs as Philadelphia continued its mastery at home over Miami.
Domonic Brown homered for the second straight game while Ryan Howard and Chase Utley also went deep for the Phillies, who won their fifth straight and 18th in the last 24 games over the Marlins at Citizens Bank Park.
Pettibone (2-0) yielded one run and five hits in 6 1/3 innings.
Donovan Solano homered and had two of Miami’s six hits. Ricky Nolasco (2-3), who was 6-1 in his previous seven starts in Philadelphia, had a two-game winning streak snapped after allowing four runs and eight hits in six innings.
Reds 6 Cubs 5: Jay Bruce drove in a pair of runs and Joey Votto scored twice as visiting Cincinnati held off a late charge from Chicago to take the series opener.
The Cubs made things interesting in the ninth inning with three runs off Aroldis Chapman but could not push across the tying run.
Scott Hairston drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs and Welington Castillo followed with a two-run single before Cody Ransom walked, but J.J. Hoover came on and struck out Darwin Barney to earn his first save.
Todd Frazier and Devin Mesoraco each doubled in a run and Shin-Soo Choo and Zack Cozart added an RBI single apiece for the Reds, who stopped a two-game slide and improved to 4-10 on the road.
Mike Leake (2-1) scattered two runs and nine hits over 5 2/3 innings to pick up the win.
Giants 2 Dodgers 1: Buster Posey hit a walk-off homer off Ronald Belisario to lead off the ninth inning and host San Francisco took down arch-rivals Los Angeles and extended their winning streak to four games.
After Los Angeles squandered multiple scoring opportunities throughout the game, Posey blasted a 3-2 pitch from Belisario (2-3) into the left field seats for his first career walk-off hit.
