By The Associated Press

ATLANTA – Raul Mondesi homered leading off the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Atlanta Braves a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night.

Mondesi, batting just .200 in his first season with the Braves, connected on the second pitch from James Journell (0-1). It was the fifth game-winning homer of Mondesi’s career, the last coming on Aug. 2, 2003, with Arizona.

New closer Dan Kolb (1-2) earned his first win for Atlanta by working a perfect ninth.

The Braves tied the game at 2 in the seventh after Al Reyes took over for Cardinals starter Matt Morris, who pitched six strong innings. Johnny Estrada and Andruw Jones had back-to-back singles, and Mondesi walked to load the bases with none out.

When manager Tony La Russa went to the mound to make a pitching change, Reyes began jawing with plate umpire Dale Scott over several calls that could have gone either way.

Reyes was ejected – not that it mattered, because La Russa was calling on lefty Randy Flores to face pinch-hitter Chipper Jones.

La Russa didn’t last much longer. After Scott called a ball on a borderline pitch, the manager ran out of the dugout and was quickly tossed, too.

Brewers 6, Reds 5

MILWAUKEE – Ken Griffey Jr. hit his first home run this season, No. 502 of his career, but the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-5 Saturday on Damian Miller’s game-winning single in the ninth inning.

Sean Casey also connected for the Reds, who led 5-1 in the seventh before the Brewers rallied on Junior Spivey’s two-run single and Russell Branyan’s two-run double.

Griffey connected for a two-run shot off reliever Victor Santos in the fourth inning, ending his longest drought to start a season. Griffey did not homer in his first 21 games and 79 at-bats this year.

It was Griffey’s first home run since last July 8, also in Milwaukee. That one came against Wes Obermueller, who started for the Brewers on Saturday.

Giants 7, Pirates 6

PITTSBURGH – Deivi Cruz got San Francisco off to a second fast start in as many nights with a two-run homer and center fielder Jason Bay’s error helped key a three-run sixth inning, carrying the Giants past the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-6 Saturday night.

The Giants won their season-high fourth in a row despite a shaky start from left-hander Noah Lowry, who left trailing 4-3 in the fifth. Lowry has gone three successive starts without winning after starting his career 7-0.

Bay’s error for overrunning Pedro Feliz’s RBI single was Pittsburgh’s first in 71 innings but scored the go-ahead run after starter Dave Williams (1-3) took the one-run lead into the sixth. The Pirates have been outscored 23-9 in Williams’ last three starts.

Nationals 5, Mets 3

WASHINGTON – Perhaps the Washington Nationals found a way to get Tomo Ohka straightened out – don’t tell him he’s starting until a few hours before gametime.

Ohka allowed just two hits in six shutout innings as a late replacement for an ailing Zach Day, and Nick Johnson and Ryan Church homered to lead the Washington Nationals past the slumping New York Mets 5-3 Saturday night in a game called before the bottom of the eighth because of rain.

Showers fell steadily from the fifth inning on – there was a 30-minute delay during the sixth – and the infield was filled with puddles by the eighth. It was in that inning that Frank Robinson was ejected by plate umpire Tom Hallion after a lengthy discussion during which the Nationals’ manager repeatedly pointed to the tiny lakes on the left side of the infield.

Padres 2, D-backs 0

SAN DIEGO – Sean Burroughs hit a rare home run and Brian Lawrence rebounded nicely from the shortest start of his career to lead the San Diego Padres to a 2-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night.

There were just six hits, four by the Padres.

Trevor Hoffman pitched the ninth to earn his 397th career save. Hoffman, who blew a save Friday night, is three shy of becoming the third pitcher with 400 saves. It was his fourth save in six chances this year.

After being swept in Phoenix last weekend, the Padres have won the first two games of a three-game series, including Friday night’s 5-4 victory in 15 innings. They’ve also won 10 straight against the Diamondbacks at Petco Park.

, which opened last season.