Padre Errors Pave Way for Braves

The Atlanta Braves scored five runs in the eighth inning, helped by two San Diego errors, and rallied to beat the Padres, 6-2, Sunday night to salvage a win in the three-game series at Atlanta.

The Padres took a 2-1 lead on pinch-hitter Mark Sweeney’s two-run single against John Smoltz in the seventh inning, but the San Diego bullpen, hurt by the errors, couldn’t hold the lead in the eighth.

Marcus Giles led off the eighth with a single against reliever Akinori Otsuka (1-5) and moved to third on Chipper Jones’ double to center. Damian Jackson then bobbled Andruw Jones’ grounder for an error, allowing Giles to score to tie the score as Jones beat the late throw at first.

Both runners advanced on Adam LaRoche’s deep fly to left field. Otsuka issued an intentional walk to Jeff Francoeur to load the bases. Ryan Langerhans followed with a grounder to Sweeney at first -- ruled an infield hit that drove in Chipper Jones. Sweeney threw wildly to home, allowing Andruw Jones to cross the plate.

Brian McCann drove in Francoeur with a sacrifice fly, and Julio Franco drove in Langerhans with a single.

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Colorado 9, Chicago 7 -- Matt Holliday and Dustan Mohr hit two-run homers, and Garrett Atkins had three hits, including a solo homer, to lead the Rockies at Denver.

Greg Maddux (10-10) lost for the first time in six decisions over his career at Coors Field.

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Houston 8, Milwaukee 3 -- Andy Pettitte won for the eighth time in his last 10 decisions, leading the Astros over the Brewers in the finale of a disappointing 6-7 homestand.

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Washington 7, New York 4 -- Ryan Church doubled and singled in a six-run first inning, and Cristian Guzman doubled twice and drove in two runs for the Nationals, who avoided a three-game sweep at New York.

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Philadelphia 4, Pittsburgh 3 -- Bobby Abreu hit a tiebreaking double against Rick White (3-6) in the seventh inning at Philadelphia that scored Jason Michaels.

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San Francisco 4, St. Louis 2 -- Jason Schmidt (10-6) gave up four hits in seven shutout innings at St. Louis to win his third decision in a row, and the Giants capitalized on four errors.

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Cincinnati 13, Arizona 6 -- Wily Mo Pena hit a pair of three-run homers to set a career high with six runs batted in to lead the host Reds.