TORONTO – Vernon Wells homered twice and tied a career high with five RBIs, and Roy Halladay pitched seven strong innings on three days’ rest, leading the Toronto Blue Jays to a 10-3 win over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.

Wells, who entered hitting just .228 with one home run and seven RBIs, hit an RBI grounder in the first, a three-run homer in the second and a solo shot in the fourth for Toronto.

Reds 5, Brewers 4

CINCINNATI – Juan Castro hit a pinch homer in the bottom of the 10th inning Wednesday night, giving the Cincinnati Reds a 5-4 victory that dramatically stopped their losing streak against the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Reds had lost their last five games and 10 of their last 11 against Milwaukee, which uncharacteristically let another one slip away.

Phillies 5, Cardinals 4

PHILADELPHIA – David Bell tied a career-high with four RBIs, including a three-run homer, leading the Philadelphia Phillies to a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night.

Diamondbacks 2, Cubs 0

CHICAGO – Rookie Casey Daigle outpitched Kerry Wood for his first career victory Wednesday night, leading the Arizona Diamondbacks over the Chicago Cubs 2-0.

Steve Finley continued his torment of the Cubs, hitting his sixth homer in nine days against them, driving in a run and making a clutch defensive play to end a Chicago rally in the eighth inning. Finley now has 19 career home runs against the Cubs.

Marlins 2, Dodgers 0

MIAMI – Brad Penny pitched 7 2-3 shutout innings to become the Florida Marlins’ career leader in victories, and they broke a four-game losing streak Wednesday by beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0.

The Marlins blew leads of at least two runs in each defeat during their skid, and they again jumped ahead 2-0 in the first inning against Jeff Weaver (1-4).

Padres 2, Braves 0

ATLANTA – David Wells turned in another dominating performance against Atlanta, pitching seven scoreless innings and even beating out a bunt single in the San Diego Padres’ 2-0 win over Braves on Wednesday night.

Wells (2-2) has made three career starts against the Braves, and won them all.

His ERA in those games is a microscopic 0.82 with just two earned runs in 22 innings.

Rockies 2, Expos 0

MONTREAL – Joe Kennedy gave Colorado’s new four-man rotation a great start, allowing only one hit over six scoreless innings and leading the Rockies over the Montreal Expos 2-0 Wednesday night.

With a major league-high 6.38 ERA going into the game, Rockies manager Clint Hurdle had already decided to go with only four starters for the rest of the month.

Mets 8, Giants 2

NEW YORK – Mike Piazza set a major league record for home runs as a catcher Wednesday night, and Shane Spencer hit a tiebreaking, three-run shot in the eighth inning of the New York Mets’ 8-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

Astros 6, Pirates 2

HOUSTON – Roger Clemens moved into second place on the career strikeouts list behind fellow Houston-area native Nolan Ryan, and became first six-game winner in the majors to lead the Astros over Pittsburgh 6-2 Wednesday night.