MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Brewers didn’t exactly catch a break by not having to face Roger Clemens or Andy Pettitte this weekend.

Houston right-hander Wade Miller dominated them again Friday in Milwaukee’s home opener, pitching six solid innings in the Astros’ 13-7 win.

Miller allowed two earned runs on four hits in improving to 11-1 against Milwaukee. In seven career starts at Miller Park, he is 6-0 with a 1.08 ERA.

Jeff Bagwell went 4-for-5 with five RBIs, including his sixth career grand slam, and scored three times. He had a chance at another grand slam when he came up in the ninth inning but he struck out looking on a pitch he thought was ball four.

Richard Hidalgo added four RBIs for the Astros.

Houston scored nine times in the sixth inning in a game that began with a little more buzz than usual after the Brewers had won three of four in St. Louis to start the season.

Bagwell started the big inning with a leadoff double and scored on Hidalgo’s two-run double just over third baseman Wes Helms’ outstretched glove.

Marlins 4, Phillies 3

MIAMI – Mike Lowell had three hits and drove in two runs to lift the Florida Marlins over the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 Friday night.

Lowell’s third single sparked a three-run sixth inning that tied the game. Luis Castillo added a two-out RBI single in the seventh.

It was the Phillies’ 11th loss in 13 games against the Marlins. Four of the last five have been one-run games.

Philadelphia seemed to have this one in hand. Pat Burrell had an RBI double off the wall in the first and a two-run single in the fifth to build a 3-0 lead.

Eric Milton was cruising along, too.

Making his first start for the Phillies and just his fourth since 2002 because of knee injury, Milton allowed two runs and six hits in five-plus innings. He left in the sixth after Miguel Cabrera doubled with Luis Castillo aboard.

Manager Larry Bowa brought in Rheal Cormier to face Lowell, but the usually reliable left-hander promptly gave up a two-run double.

Reds 5, Pirates 1

CINCINNATI – Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn homered Friday night, powering the Cincinnati Reds to a 5-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates that extended their uncharacteristically good start.

With their third straight win, the Reds moved into first place in the NL Central for the first time since June 17, 2002.

Slow starts are more the norm for Cincinnati, which is 3-1 for the first time since 1997. At two games over .500, the Reds have matched their high point from last season, when they moved into Great American Ball Park and lost 93

games.

The Reds sold 9,461 tickets right before the game, their biggest walk-up crowd since 1994.

Aaron Harang (1-0) held the Pirates to six hits in six innings, the third solid performance from a revamped rotation that ranked among the majors’ worst last year.

Mets 3, Expos 2

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The Mets got off to a better start on this year’s Caribbean trip.

Todd Zeile doubled to break an 11th-inning tie Friday night, leading New York over the Montreal Expos 3-2.

Last year, the Expos swept a four-game April series from the Mets, and New York went on to its second straight last-place finish in the NL East.

Montreal, owned by the other 29 major league teams, is back at Hiram Bithorn Stadium for 22 more home games this season.

Cubs 2, Braves 1

ATLANTA – Tom Goodwin brought home Derrek Lee with a sacrifice fly in the 15th inning, and the Chicago Cubs held on to beat the Atlanta Braves 2-1 Friday night.

The victory snapped a two-game losing streak for the Cubs.

Aramis Ramirez, who had four hits, doubled for the third time to lead off the inning, and moved to third on a single by Lee. Against a drawn-in infield, Ramon Martinez hit a grounder to shortstop Jesse Garcia, who quickly threw home to get Ramirez easily. But Michael Barrett walked to load the bases, and Goodwin hit a fly ball off Will Cunnane (0-1) down the right-field line to score Lee.

Kent Mercker (1-0) pitched the 14th and Joe Borowski got three outs for his second save.

Eddie Perez went 2-for-6 for the Braves, and he, Ramirez and Lee, who had two singles, were the only players with more than one hit.

The Cubs tied it in the ninth on a pinch-hit homer by Todd Hollandsworth, who drove a fastball from John Smoltz deep into the seats in right. Smoltz had elbow surgery in the offseason and has allowed home runs in three straight appearances, the first time that’s happened in nearly three years.

The drawn-out finish spoiled a wonderful pitching duel. Atlanta’s Horacio Ramirez pitched seven shutout innings – the longest any starter has lasted so far for the Braves – and Carlos Zambrano allowed only two hits in seven innings for the Cubs.

One of those was a solo homer hit by Andruw Jones in the second, which was the only run through the first eight innings.

Through their first three games, the Braves were batting .360 as a team. They scored 30 runs – including 28 in back-to-back victories over the New York Mets – and had 40 hits.

None of that mattered against Zambrano, who struck out seven and retired 15 of the last 16 batters he faced.

The Braves failed to convert an opportunity for an insurance run in the eighth. Perez singled off Kyle Farnsworth with one out, and pinch-hitter Dewayne Wise moved him to third with a double down the left-field line.

But Garcia lined out to shallow right – Perez never thought about running on Sammy Sosa’s arm – and Marcus Giles struck out.

Atlanta left the bases loaded in the 12th and 13th, and the Cubs left two runners stranded in the 12th, 14th and 15th.

The game was a rematch of the first round of last season’s playoffs. The Cubs won deciding Game 5 at Turner Field – their first postseason series victory in 95 years – and then blew a 3-1 lead in the NL championship series against the Florida Marlins.

But that was 2003, and both of these teams are very different. The Braves no longer have Gary Sheffield, Javy Lopez or Vinny Castilla in their lineup, and longtime ace Greg Maddux signed a free agent with the Cubs, his original organization.

That was part of Chicago’s retooling that left the lovable losers from Wrigleyville as favorites in the NL Central.

Notes: Cubs RHP Sergio Mitre gets the start Saturday against the Braves, replacing RHP Mark Prior. Prior likely is out until May with inflammation in his right Achilles’ tendon and a stiff elbow. In his final appearance of the spring, Mitre pitched three scoreless innings of relief last Saturday against the Arizona Diamondbacks. … Perez got his first start of the season in place of Johnny Estrada.

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