ATLANTA — Florida led off a game with back-to-back homers for the first time in franchise history, Chris Volstad pitched eight strong innings and the Marlins romped past slumping Atlanta 7-1.
The NL East leaders lost their fourth in a row, their worst slump since a nine-game skid in April. The last two defeats have been especially ugly — Atlanta squandered a 10-1 lead at Colorado and fell 12-10, then got blown out by the Marlins, who have won eight of 10.
Cameron Maybin hit the first pitch of the game into the left-field seats, ending Tommy Hanson's streak of 47 2-3 innings without giving up a homer. Logan Morrison then connected off Hanson (8-10) for his first major league home run.
Hanson gave up two more runs in the second, including a run-scoring single by Volstad (8-9).
REDS 7, CUBS 1: At Cincinnati, Jay Bruce homered in three consecutive at-bats, matching his career high with five RBIs, and the first-place Cincinnati Reds extended their two-week playoff surge. The streak pushed Cincinnati back ahead of the Cardinals in the NL Central, which the Reds have led for the last 13 days. Bruce hit a solo homer and a three-run shot off left-hander Tom Gorzelanny (7-8).
CARDINALS 4, NATIONALS 2: At Washington, On the day injured phenom Stephen Strasburg was declared done for the season, another rookie kept humming along, pitching St. Louis to a victory over Washington. Jaime Garcia tossed 5 1-3 scoreless innings and Albert Pujols hit his 401st home run as the Cardinals broke a three-game skid. Matt Holliday also went deep. Garcia (12-6) tied a season high with seven strikeouts. Pujols, who hit his 400th home run Thursday night and later twisted his ankle in a 13-inning loss, connected off Scott Olsen (3-7) for his 35th of the season.
PHILLIES 3, PADRES 2 (12 INNINGS): At San Diego, Brad Lidge balked home the tying run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, forcing the Phillies to play three more innings before beating the NL West-leading Padres on a perfect slide by Jimmy Rollins. Rollins doubled to the right-field wall off rookie Ernesto Frieri (0-1) leading off the 12th and came around to score on Placido Polanco's single to center.
METS 2, ASTROS 1: At New York, Mike Pelfrey pitched eight dominant innings and New York took advantage of a wild outing by former teammate Nelson Figueroa to end Houston's five-game winning streak. Pelfrey (13-7) went at least seven innings for the fourth straight start, shutting down an Astros squad that was coming off a four-game sweep in Philadelphia. He threw a career-high 124 pitches and matched his major league best for wins in a season. Right fielder Jeff Francoeur threw out a runner trying to score and Hisanori Takahashi escaped a ninth-inning jam for his second save.
DIAMONDBACKS 6, GIANTS 0: At San Francisco, Tim Lincecum lost his fifth straight start, and Barry Enright and two relievers combined on a seven-hit shutout for Arizona. Lincecum had never lost five starts in a row before. His ERA in August is 7.82. Adam LaRoche homered, and Stephen Drew doubled, tripled and scored three times for Arizona.
BREWERS 7, PIRATES 2: At Milwaukee, Alcides Escobar's two-run triple sparked a six-run seventh inning for Milwaukee. Chris Narveson pitched seven innings. He allowed two runs on seven hits while striking out eight and walking one. Joe Inglett, batted for Narveson (10-7) and singled for his major-league leading 19th pinch hit. Corey Hart doubled in a run before Ryan Braun added a two-run double.
DODGERS 6, ROCKIES 2: At Denver, Casey Blake hit a grand slam in a five-run eighth inning and Los Angeles beat Colorado ace Ubaldo Jimenez, who made his fourth unsuccessful attempt at his 18th win.