His chase for 600 on hold for a night, Ken Griffey Jr. could only watch as Chase Utley connected for the fifth straight game.
Utley hit his major league-leading 21st homer to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 5-4 victory over Cincinnati on Monday night. Griffey was out of the Reds lineup because of general soreness in his 38-year-old body.
“He’s one of the best around,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said of Utley.
It’s the second time this season that the Phillies second baseman has homered in five consecutive games. He shares the club record with Dick Allen, Mike Schmidt and Bobby Abreu.
“He’s swinging the bat as good as I’ve ever seen him and he’s doing it every night,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.
Griffey should start Tuesday night. He hit No. 599 at home Saturday against Atlanta. The only players to reach 600 are Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa.
In other NL games, it was: Atlanta 7, Florida 5, 10 innings; Chicago 7, San Diego 6; Milwaukee 4, Arizona 3; Pittsburgh 5, St. Louis 4; Los Angeles 8, Colorado 2; San Francisco 10, New York 2.
Balls were flying out of Citizens Bank Park as Pedro Feliz and Chris Coste also connected for the NL East-leading Phillies. Rookie sensation Jay Bruce and Edwin Encarnacion went deep for the Reds.
Kyle Kendrick (5-2) pitched just well enough to earn the win, giving up four runs and five hits in 5 1-3 innings. Chad Durbin pitched 1 2-3 scoreless innings, Tom Gordon tossed a perfect eighth and Brad Lidge finished for his 14th save.
“The bullpen did a great job,” Kendrick said.
Utley lined a two-run shot into the right-center field seats to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead in the first. Utley is on pace to hit 58 homers, 26 more than his career high in 2006. The record for second basemen is 42, set by Rogers Hornsby in 1922 and tied by Davey Johnson in 1973.
Utley isn’t just doing it with his bat. He robbed Joey Votto leading off the seventh and made almost the exact play on Votto again to end the game.
In the third, Utley slammed into catcher David Ross, but was out trying to score on Ryan Howard’s double. He put down a near-perfect bunt that just rolled foul leading off the Phillies’ seventh.
“We’re having fun,” Utley said. “The team is winning and the fans have been great.”
Braves 7, Marlins 5
At Atlanta, John Smoltz blew a save in his return to the mound as a closer, but Yunel Escobar picked him up with the first game-ending homer of his career, a two-run shot in the 10th inning to lift the Braves over Florida.
Pitching in relief for the first time since 2004, Smoltz came on in the ninth with a 4-3 lead. The Marlins were down to their last out when Jeremy Hermida drove in two runs with a single.
But Jeff Francoeur hustled home on a wild pitch in the bottom half to get Smoltz off the hook, and Escobar won it in the 10th with a drive that bounced off the top of the wall in right center and into the seats.
In the 10th, Logan Kensing (3-1) walked Kelly Johnson, then surrendered Escobar’s fifth homer of the season.
Will Ohman (2-0) earned the win with a scoreless top half of the 10th.
Cubs 7, Padres 6
At San Diego, Carlos Zambrano (8-1) allowed three runs in the first inning before settling down to help Chicago win its eighth straight. He legged out three hits to tie his career high and raise his average to .366. He hit a standup RBI triple that tied the game in the fourth, his third career triple.
The best team in baseball, the Cubs (37-21) held on to win the opener of a seven-game swing through San Diego and Los Angeles. They were coming off a 7-0 stretch at Wrigley Field, their first unbeaten homestand of at least six games since 1970. It’s their first eight-game winning streak since 2001, when they won 12 straight between May 19-June 2.
Brewers 4, Diamondbacks 3
At Milwaukee, Prince Fielder homered off Arizona reliever Doug Slaten (0-2) to leadoff the eighth and helped scratch across another run with an unlikely steal of third to lift the Brewers over the Diamondbacks.
It was Fielder’s third homer in the last four games and ninth this year. The Brewers have won fourth in a row.
Brewers reliever Guillermo Mota (2-3) earned the win with a perfect eighth. Salomon Torres survived a shaky ninth to earn his sixth save.
Pirates 5, Cardinals 4
At St. Louis, Jason Michaels hit a tying pinch-hit grand slam in the seventh and Jason Bay drove in the winning run an inning later as the Pirates rallied past the Cardinals.
Michaels, batting for Raul Chavez, hit his first home run of the season on the first pitch he saw from starter Adam Wainwright (5-3).
Franquelis Osoria (3-1) allowed two hits in 1 2-3 innings to earn the victory. Matt Capps pitched the ninth to remain perfect in 11 save opportunities.
Dodgers 8, Rockies 2
At Los Angeles, Jeff Kent, Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp hit home runs, Derek Lowe pitched eight strong innings for his first win in more than five weeks and the Dodgers handed the Rockies their eighth straight loss.
Lowe (3-5) allowed a run and five hits, striking out three and walking one to get his first victory in eight starts since April 23.
The Rockies lost their 13th straight on the road.
Greg Reynolds (0-3) pitched five innings, allowing six runs and seven hits including Kent’s sixth homer and Ethier’s fifth.
Giants 10, Mets 2
At San Francisco, Brian Horwitz hit the first home run of his career with a two-run shot in the Giants’ six-run first and Ray Durham also drove in three runs to help San Francisco beat the sluggish New York.
Randy Winn also homered with a leadoff drive in the first. Durham hit a two-run double in the initial inning as the Giants knocked New York starter Oliver Perez (4-4) out after he got only one out, staking Giants starter Jonathan Sanchez (4-3) to a comfortable cushion.
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