Diamondbacks’ Streak Hits Seven

Claudio Vargas threw six solid innings for his second consecutive home victory and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-1, at Phoenix on Saturday night for their seventh consecutive win.

Johnny Estrada hit three doubles, drove in a run and scored twice for the Diamondbacks, who won for the ninth time in 11 games and remained tied with Colorado for the National League West lead.

Vargas (4-1) struggled through the first inning, giving up an inside-the-park home run to Felipe Lopez and walking the bases full. But he struck out Brandon Phillips to cap the 42-pitch inning trailing only 1-0. Beginning with Phillips, Vargas retired 16 of the final 19 batters he faced.

San Diego 2, Chicago 1 -- Rob Bowen homered leading off the bottom of the 10th to extend the Padres’ winning streak to seven games.

Colorado 5, Houston 0 -- Jason Jennings pitched a seven-hitter for his second career shutout, leading the Rockies at Denver.

Jennings (2-2) struck out a season-high nine, walked one and retired 12 in a row during one stretch. He was 0-2 in his previous four starts and last won April 9 at San Diego.

Philadelphia 4, San Francisco 1 -- Chase Utley homered again and drove in two runs at Philadelphia to help the Phillies win their seventh straight game.

Giant slugger Barry Bonds blooped a wind-blown single into left field and finished one for three with a walk. He remains stuck at 712 homers, two behind Babe Ruth for second place on baseball’s career list.

St. Louis 7, Florida 6 -- Mark Mulder pitched six innings for his 100th career victory, and the Cardinals finished with 14 hits against Dontrelle Willis and three relievers at Miami.

St. Louis nearly blew a 7-0 lead. Florida pulled within one in the eighth on a two-run single by Hanley Ramirez, but Jason Isringhausen struck out Dan Uggla with two on to end the inning, then worked the ninth for his eighth save in 10 chances.

Pittsburgh 5, Washington 4 -- Jason Bay’s homer with two outs in the 11th inning led the Pirates at Washington and ended a three-game losing streak.

Bay drove a high 2-and-1 pitch from Felix Rodriguez (0-1) to left field, breaking a tie that had lasted since the fourth inning.

New York 6, Atlanta 5 -- Jose Reyes and Kaz Matsui had run-scoring hits in another seventh-inning comeback and the Mets won at New York to put the Braves nine games out in the NL East for the first time since Aug. 11, 1993.