ATLANTA – Ryan Howard hit a three-run homer, Pat Burrell added his second homer of the series and the Philadelphia Phillies survived a ninth-inning scare to beat the Atlanta Braves 7-3 on Wednesday night.

The Phillies improved to 5-0 in Atlanta this season and 7-1 overall in the season series.

The Braves (40-45) fell a season-worst five games under .500 with their second straight loss in the series, despite homers from Chipper Jones and Ruben Gotay.

Pirates 9, Reds 5

CINCINNATI – Xavier Nady homered twice and drove in four runs, leading Pittsburgh to a 9-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds shortly after the Pirates lost yet another pitcher to injury.

Closer Matt Capps will be gone for about eight weeks after a medical test detected bursitis and tightness in his pitching shoulder. Capps is the fourth Pittsburgh pitcher to wind up on the disabled list in the last two weeks. The rest of the bullpen came through, helping the Pirates win back-to-back road games for only the second time this season.

Marlins 4, Nationals 2

MIAMI – A rain delay was worth the wait for Alfredo Amezaga and the Florida Marlins. Amezaga hit a go-ahead, two-run home run in seventh inning when play resumed after a 11/2-hour delay, and the Marlins beat the Washington Nationals 4-2.

Florida trailed 2-1 when the game was halted with two outs in the seventh for 1 hour, 35 minutes. Cody Ross had singled with one out off starter Odalis Perez, and Matt Treanor grounded out before play was stopped.

Rockies 8, Padres 1

DENVER – Garrett Atkins, Troy Tulowitzki and Yorvit Torrealba homered to help the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 8-1.

Atkins drove in four runs and Ubaldo Jimenez pitched into the seventh inning for his second win in his last three starts.

Colorado scored seven runs in the first three innings against Randy Wolf (5-8).

Dodgers 4, Astros 1

HOUSTON – Hiroki Kuroda threw seven shutout innings after coming off the disabled list, and Jeff Kent had a pair of RBI doubles to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 4-0 win over the Houston Astros.

Kuroda (4-6) allowed five hits with one strikeout, looking strong in his first start since going on the DL on June 18 with tendinitis in his right shoulder.

Athletics 7, Angels 4

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Joe Saunders pitched into the seventh inning to match Brandon Webb for the major league lead with his 12th win, and Juan Rivera and Eric Aybar homered in the Los Angeles Angels’ 7-4 win over the Oakland Athletics.

Saunders (12-4) allowed four runs and six hits in 6 1-3 innings to help the Angels open up a 51/2-game lead over their AL West rivals.

Twins 7, Tigers 0

MINNEAPOLIS – Nick Blackburn combined with two relievers on a five-hitter, and Joe Mauer’s two-out, two-run single sparked a five-run third inning that led the surging Minnesota Twins over the Detroit Tigers 7-0.

Minnesota took two of three from the Tigers and has won 13 of its last 15 games. Detroit, which had won 18 of 22 coming into the series, was shut out for the 10th time this season, the most in the major leagues.

Orioles 5, Royals 2

BALTIMORE – Daniel Cabrera pitched a seven-hitter to earn his first victory since May 20, Aubrey Huff homered and the Baltimore Orioles beat Gil Meche and the Kansas City Royals 5-2.Cabrera (6-4) retired 13 straight batters before David DeJesus singled with two outs in the eighth inning.

The right-hander struck out two and walked none in his second complete game of the season, both of which have come against the Royals.

Yankees 18, Rangers 7

NEW YORK – Jason Giambi and the New York Yankees had an emphatic response to Hank’s latest edict.

Giambi hit a grand slam and drove in a season-best six runs, Alex Rodriguez added a three-run shot and New York pounded the Texas Rangers 18-7 to avoid a series sweep.

The Yankees had been struggling at the plate, scoring just seven runs and batting .172 in losing three of their last four games, prompting co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner to say things were “getting ridiculous.”

“We’ve got to start hitting,” Steinbrenner said earlier in the day in Tampa, Fla.

“They’ve got to start waking up.”

Consider them wide awake