Francoeur Lifts Braves Over Padres

Jeff Francoeur appears to have broken out of his early-season slump.

Francoeur homered for the second night in a row, hitting a two-out shot in the eighth inning that gave the Atlanta Braves a 5-4 win over the San Diego Padres on Friday night.

After starting the season with only two hits in 36 at-bats, last year’s rookie sensation homered twice Thursday in a loss to Philadelphia. He followed up with three hits against the Padres, including a liner against Scott Linebrink (0-1) that barely cleared the left-field wall.

Oscar Villareal (4-0) became the first four-game winner in the majors with a scoreless eighth. Chris Reitsma worked around two hits in the ninth to earn his fourth save, retiring Terrmel Sledge for the final out with runners at second and third.

Chicago 11, Pittsburgh 6 -- Matt Murton tripled with the bases loaded, and Todd Walker had four hits for the Cubs in a victory at Pittsburgh.

Chicago withstood three homers in the sixth inning to win its eighth in a row at Pittsburgh.

Florida 5, Washington 3 -- Dontrelle Willis got his first win of the season and also drove in a run with a bunt for the Marlins at Miami.

Josh Willingham homered, Chris Aguila had a two-run double and Miguel Cabrera a run-scoring single for Florida.

Cincinnati 1, St. Louis 0 -- Red starter Aaron Harang gave up four hits in seven-plus innings and drove in the fourth run of his career in a win at St. Louis.

Harang (2-1) got the only RBI against Chris Carpenter on a fifth-inning bloop single that fell just in front of center fielder Jim Edmonds.

New York 4, Milwaukee 3 -- Tom Glavine took advantage of the lowest-scoring team in the major leagues, striking out 11 batters over six innings to lead the Mets at New York.

Glavine (2-0) limited the Brewers to six singles and earned his 277th victory.

Philadelphia 10, Colorado 8 -- Chase Utley hit the third grand slam of his career and homered twice for the second straight day as the Phillies won at Denver.

Pat Burrell and Aaron Rowand also homered for the Phillies, who outhit Colorado, 16-14.

Arizona 5, Houston 1 -- Brandon Webb (1-0) gave up seven hits in eight innings to beat Andy Pettitte (1-2), who gave up three runs -- two earned -- and seven hits in six innings at Phoenix.