CHICAGO – Mark Prior gave the Chicago Cubs a glimpse of exactly what they’ve been missing.

What he couldn’t do all by himself was get them a victory.

Off the disabled list and on the mound for the first time this season, Prior retired the first 13 batters and pitched six stellar innings. But the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied for two runs in the ninth and a 2-1 victory Friday.

Prior was overpowering at times, allowing just two hits. He walked none and struck out eight.

Prior wound up with a no-decision when the Cubs’ bullpen blew a 1-0 lead and Chicago lost for the eighth time in 11 games.

Jack Wilson doubled off Joe Borowski (2-4) and scored on Craig Wilson’s two-out single to tie it. Pinch-hitter Chris Stynes then hit a go-ahead single off Mike Remlinger.

Known for his nearly flawless mechanics, Prior was as efficient as ever on a crisp, 62-degree day and showed no signs of the Achilles tendon and elbow problems that kept him out of the rotation for two months.

With his socks pulled up high, he retired leadoff hitter Jason Kendall on a grounder on his first pitch and threw only five more to get out of the first inning.

He finished the game throwing 85 pitches – 55 for strikes.

His fastball hitting the mid 90s mph, Prior mowed the Pirates down in order before Rob Mackowiak singled to center with one out in the fifth.

Expos 4, Reds 2

CINCINNATI – Brad Wilkerson hit a solo homer and a tiebreaking, two-run shot in the seventh inning Friday night, rallying the Montreal Expos to a 4-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

The crowd of 32,701 watched the NL Central leaders get beat by a hometown prep star. Cincinnati native Zach Day (4-6) allowed only four hits in six innings, including Adam Dunn’s two-run homer.

Ken Griffey Jr. was 1-for-2 with a single and two walks, leaving him at 495 career homers. Griffey has closed in on the 500-homer mark by hitting six in his last 12 games.

Marlins 5, Mets 1

NEW YORK – Hee Seop Choi hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the sixth inning, Miguel Cabrera had three hits and the Florida Marlins ended a four-game losing streak with a 5-1 victory over the New York Mets on Friday night.

Carl Pavano (5-2) allowed six hits over 7 2-3 innings, and retired 12 straight during one stretch as the Marlins ended New York’s four-game winning streak.

Ex-Met Armando Benitez replaced Pavano with two outs in the eighth. Booed loudly by the crowd of 23,266, Benitez recorded his 21st save in 22 opportunities.

Phillies 9, Braves 1

ATLANTA – Bobby Abreu and Mike Lieberthal homered to back seven impressive innings by Eric Milton, and the Philadelphia Phillies ended a four-game losing streak with a 9-1 victory over the error-prone Atlanta Braves on Friday night.

Milton (7-1) held the Braves scoreless after the first inning, allowing just one earned run and five hits overall. The left-hander struck out five and walked two.

Cardinals 5, Astros 3

ST. LOUIS – Scott Rolen snapped a fifth-inning tie with a two-run single, giving him a major league-leading 57 RBIs and sending the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-3 victory over the Houston Astros on Friday night.

Rolen’s go-ahead hit off Wade Miller (5-6) gave him four hits in seven at-bats with four RBIs since getting beaned by the Pirates’ Ryan Vogelsong.

Tuesday. Rolen, batting .436 (17-for-39) during a 10-game hitting streak with four homers and 16 RBIs, sat out Wednesday before returning to the lineup.

Matt Morris (5-5) gave up three runs on 10 hits in 6 1-3 innings and worked around two homers, his major league-leading 17th and 18th allowed this season.

Roger Cedeno, Marlon Anderson and Jim Edmonds drove in a run apiece for the Cardinals, and Jason Isringhausen worked the ninth for his 12th save in 15 chances.

Miller lost to the Cardinals for the second straight outing, neither time making it through the fifth. In 4 1-3 innings he allowed five runs on five hits and four walks, and in the two starts he allowed nine earned runs in 8 1-3 innings.

Jeff Kent homered in the sixth to extend his hitting streak to 19 games, six games better than his previous best, and Craig Biggio was 3-for-4 with a walk. Kent is batting .352 (25-for-71) during the streak.

Mike Lamb added his fifth homer, and second off Morris in five days, in the second for Houston. Three straight singles, the last by Jeff Bagwell, gave the Astros a 2-0 lead in the third.

Cedeno’s sacrifice fly cut the deficit to one in the third, and two of Miller’s four walks helped the Cardinals score four runs in the fifth to take a 5-2 lead.

Morris lost in his last start to the Astros despite a solid effort, giving up three runs and four hits in seven innings. He won for the first time in four starts.

Notes: The Cardinals are a major league-best 19-9 on the road, and they’re 12-14 at home after a 1-6 start. … Lamb is 12-for-25 with three homers and eight RBIs in his last 11 games. … Kent’s hitting streak is five games shy of the franchise record set by Tony Eusebio in 2000. … Cedeno is 4-for-5 in his career against Miller.

AP-ES-06-04-04 2313EDT