Fielder, Weeks Lead Brewers Past Reds, 6-5

Prince Fielder homered in the eighth inning and Rickie Weeks followed with a tie-breaking single, rallying the Milwaukee Brewers to a 6-5 victory Monday night over the slumping Reds at Cincinnati.

The Brewers took advantage of Cincinnati’s short-handed bullpen and sent the Reds to their fourth straight loss. Fielder led off the eighth with a homer off Kent Mercker (0-1) on a 1-and-2 pitch, tying it at 5-5.

“That’s just a game we should have won right there,” Mercker said. “I have no excuses. I’ve been through this before. When it goes bad, it goes bad. I throw one bad pitch, and it’s a home run. When you’re going good, that same pitch is popped up.”

The comeback gave rookie left-hander Zach Jackson (1-0) his first major league victory despite a rocky performance. Jackson became the first Brewers pitcher since 2003 to give up four homers.

Former Dodgers catcher David Ross hit two of them, and Adam Dunn and Jason LaRue each had a solo shot for Cincinnati, which scored all of its runs off homers.

“That’s the kind of pitcher I am,” Jackson said. “I’d rather make them earn it. If that’s what happens, I give up a couple of runs, so be it.”

The Reds lead the National League with 95 homers, and Milwaukee is next with 90.

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Colorado 4, Washington 3 -- Jeff Francis pitched effectively into the seventh inning and J.D. Closser drove in the go-ahead run in the sixth with a broken-bat single at Washington.

Former Nationals infielder Jamey Carroll, making his return to RFK Stadium, had three hits and a run batted in for the Rockies and Clint Barmes added a run-scoring triple as the Rockies handed Nationals starter Ramon Ortiz his first loss in a month.

The game featured two teams that seemed to be going in opposite directions. After a 14-28 start, the Nationals had won 17 of their last 24 games to move within four games of .500, while the Rockies started strong but have lost 13 of their last 18.