By The Associated Press

CINCINNATI – Matt Stairs had an RBI double in the 11th inning, and the trade-decimated Pittsburgh Pirates completed another sweep at Great American Ball Park by beating the Cincinnati Reds 7-5 on Thursday.

The Pirates have gone 4-1 in the last five days while trading away their top two relievers and two regulars in three separate deals.

Stairs hit a ninth-inning homer Wednesday night as the Pirates won the opener of the two-game series, and had a pair of run-scoring doubles to complete a sweep of fast-fading Cincinnati.

The Pirates opened Great American with a three-game sweep from March 31-April 3. They’re 5-0 at the ballpark, the first time they’ve won five consecutive games in Cincinnati since 1991.

The Reds have played themselves out of contention since the All-Star break, going 1-7 on a homestand to fall a season-high 13 games under .500.

Pittsburgh blew three leads with shoddy plays, the last one when Stairs dove for Aaron Boone’s sinking liner in right field with two outs in the eighth and let it get past him for an RBI triple that tied it at 5.

Boone’s throwing error at shortstop – the 97th this season by Cincinnati, most in the majors – set up the winning rally off Chris Reitsma (7-3). Stairs’ double put Pittsburgh ahead, and Jose Hernandez had a sacrifice fly off Ryan Wagner.

Mike Lincoln (1-0) pitched the last two innings to get the victory, one day after he saved the series opener.

Pirates right-hander Jeff D’Amico blew two leads during his six innings, but turned a 5-4 lead over to the bullpen. He gave up four runs – only one earned – and had an RBI double as well.

Phillies 14, Cubs 6

CHICAGO – Bobby Abreu hit a grand slam along with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly during a nine-run burst in the sixth inning that sent the Philadelphia Phillies over the Chicago Cubs 14-6 Thursday.

Placido Polanco drove in four runs with four hits and Todd Pratt homered for the Phillies.

Sammy Sosa hit his 520th career home run and Hee Seop Choi also connected for the Cubs in their third straight loss.

Kerry Wood (10-7) had been cruising along, giving up just one run and two hits and striking out nine through five innings. Then it turned into his worst outing of the year.

Wood faced seven batters in the sixth and they all scored. The Cubs’ ace had won five of his previous six starts.

Abreu became the first Phillies player with five RBIs in an inning since Von Hayes on June 11, 1985.

Abreu’s slam came against Wood. Abreu had a chance to join Fernando Tatis as the only players in major league history to hit two grand slams in an inning, but hit a sacrifice fly to medium center field off Mike Remlinger.

The Phillies trailed 3-1 when they loaded the bases with none out in the sixth on singles by Marlon Byrd and Polanco and a walk to Jim Thome. Abreu then hit a 1-2 pitch off Wood that just cleared the basket in right field.

Expos 5, Mets 1

MONTREAL – Livan Hernandez won his fourth straight decision and Wil Cordero homered to lead the Montreal Expos to a 5-1 win over the New York Mets on Thursday night.

Hernandez (10-6) improved to 4-0 in five July starts, becoming the first Montreal pitcher to reach double digits in wins.

Vladimir Guerrero, who returned from a herniated disk Monday, went 2-for-3 with a walk, including a two-run single off Tom Glavine (6-11) in the first.

After Cliff Floyd’s run-scoring grounder in the fourth cut Montreal’s lead to 2-1, Cordero hit a two-run shot in the sixth to put the Expos up by three.

Hernandez allowed seven hits and one run in 7 2-3 innings, leaving after consecutive singles by Jose Reyes and Jason Phillips.

Left-hander Eric Knott walked Cliff Floyd to load the bases before Luis Ayala came on to get Ty Wigginton on a grounder back to the mound, bringing on a loud cheer from the crowd of 9,337.

Hector Almonte started the ninth and got one out, but he also walked two, prompting manager Frank Robinson to bring in Rocky Biddle for the final two outs and his 24th save in 29 chances.

Glavine lost for the eighth time in his last nine decisions, allowing eight hits and four runs in six innings. The two-time Cy Young Award winner has a 7.06 ERA over his last 11 starts, raising his overall ERA from 3.41 to 5.15.

New York, which ended a 2-6 road trip, has lost 12 of 15.

Phillips had three hits to extend his hitting streak to 12 games.

Jose Macias hit a one-out double in the first. After Orlando Cabrera walked, Guerrero singled to right, taking a wide turn at first as Macias scored. Right fielder Raul Gonzalez’s throw to second sent Guerrero scrambling back to first while Cabrera scored Montreal’s second run well ahead of shortstop Reyes’ throw home.