Jones goes long to help beat Padres, 7-4

Andruw Jones hit another home run at Petco Park and had three runs batted in, and Buddy Carlyle pitched eight strong innings against his former team as the Atlanta Braves beat the San Diego Padres, 7-4, on Friday night.

The Braves beat the Padres for the fourth consecutive time this season. Overall, they won their third in a row while the West Division-leading Padres lost for the fourth time in six games.

Carlyle (3-2), who made his major league debut with San Diego in 1999, went a career-high eight innings and matched his career best with seven strikeouts. He gave up three runs and eight hits while walking one.

Carlyle also helped himself with an RBI single.

Jones hit a two-run homer off Justin Germano (5-3) during a three-run fourth and had an RBI single in the four-run fifth, when the right-hander was chased without getting an out.

It was Jones’ 15th homer this season and ninth overall at Petco Park, the most by any visiting hitter at the downtown ballpark, which opened in 2004.

--

* at Pittsburgh 8, Chicago 4: The Cubs had won 11 of 13 and were 21-10 since June 3, the best record in the majors over that span, until being limited to five hits over seven-plus innings by Paul Maholm. The Pirates have won four in a row, their longest streak since they won a season-high five in a row from April 22-27.

* at Houston 4, New York 0: Wandy Rodriguez threw a four-hitter for his first complete game. His previous longest outing was 7 2/3 innings. The Mets didn’t get a runner past first base after Carlos Beltran’s first-inning double. “I just stayed focused and threw the ball where I wanted to throw it and everything came out good,” Rodriguez said.

* Milwaukee 6, at Washington 2: Dave Bush, who took a shutout into the seventh inning, improved to 4-1 in his last five starts. He yielded one run and seven hits in seven innings.

* at Cincinnati 8, Arizona 1: Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn and Brandon Phillips homered as the Reds won consecutive games for the first time since wins over the Cleveland Indians on June 10 and the Angels on June 12.

* San Francisco 4, at St. Louis 3: Noah Lowry won his third straight start, helped by Cardinals center fielder So Taguchi, whose fielding error allowed three runs to score in the fifth inning.

* at Colorado 7, Philadelphia 6 (11 innings): Yorvit Torrealba’s two-out single in the 11th drove home Garrett Atkins from second base. Atkins drew a one-out walk and Brad Hawpe, whose ninth-inning homer tied the score at 6-6, singled up the middle. With two out, Torrealba singled.

* Atlanta 7, at San Diego 4: The Braves beat the Padres for the fourth straight time this season.

* Florida 6, at Dodgers 5 (10 innings): Takashi Saito blew his second save in 25 chances.