Sanders, Furcal Power Braves, 12-10

After a pair of two-run homers by Reggie Sanders, Rafael Furcal thought his three-run homer was simply icing on another Atlanta victory.

It turned out to be more important than that in the Braves’ 12-10 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday.

Furcal’s homer off Russ Springer in the fifth inning sent Atlanta to an 11-3 lead.

“He made a mistake with his fastball and threw it right in the middle,” Furcal said.

Sanders, struggling through the worst season of his nine-year career, hit his ninth and 10th homers.

Furcal’s homer was the second of his career.

Andres Galarraga hit his 27th homer, a solo shot off Geraldo Guzman, in the seventh.

Burkett (9-6) won for the first time in nearly seven weeks. Burkett gave up four runs and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings.

The Diamondbacks scored six runs in the ninth. Jason Conti hit a two-run triple, Tony Womack followed with a triple for Arizona and scored on Danny Bautista’s single off Scott Kamieniecki, who didn’t retire any of the five batters he faced.

Pinch-hitter Rod Barajas then hit a two-run homer off Terry Mulholland in his first at-bat of the season.

New York 10, Montreal 4--Edgardo Alfonzo and Robin Ventura hit consecutive homers as the Mets scored six unearned runs in the fourth to win at Montreal.

Expo reliever Steve Kline threw his glove in the direction of first-base umpire Ian Lamplugh--but did not hit him--after being ejected in the eighth inning. Kline argued after Lamplugh called Jay Payton safe for an RBI infield single with two outs.

The Mets moved five games ahead of the Diamondbacks in the wild card race.

Houston 10, Pittsburgh 9--Julio Lugo singled home the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning and the Astros won at Houston.

It was the Pirates’ eighth consecutive loss.

Cincinnati 7, Milwaukee 3--Chris Stynes homered and drove in three runs, and Elmer Dessens survived six shaky innings to win his third consecutive start as the Reds won at Cincinnati.

Stynes hit an RBI double to cap a three-run first inning against Paul Rigdon (3-4) and added a two-run homer in the sixth, his ninth of the season.

Florida 3, Philadelphia 2--Omar Daal moved within one loss of becoming the first 20-game loser in 20 years, giving up a two-run homer to Preston Wilson as the Marlins won at Philadelphia.

Daal (3-19) lost his seventh consecutive start and is on the brink of being the majors’ first 20-game loser since Oakland’s Brian Kingman in 1980.

San Francisco 4, San Diego 3--Jeff Kent’s run-scoring single in the 13th was decisive for the Giants’ at San Diego. Kent has 122 RBIs for the season, while Barry Bonds, who drove in three runs, has 101.