Padres Win Eighth in a Row at Home

Brian Giles and Mark Loretta hit solo home runs to lead San Diego over Houston, 5-3, Tuesday night for the Padres’ eighth consecutive home victory.

Terrence Long hit a two-run double in the first inning to spark the National League West leaders, who have won five in a row and 12 of 15 overall.

Houston has lost three in a row, dropping nine games behind first-place St. Louis in the NL Central.

Ismael Valdez (7-5) combined with four relievers on a five-hitter, winning for the second time in six starts. Valdez gave up three runs -- two earned -- and four hits in five innings.

Blaine Neal, Scott Linebrink and Akinori Otsuka pitched one inning each before Trevor Hoffman threw a hitless ninth for his 22nd save in 24 chances.

Pete Munro (1-2) gave up four runs and seven hits in four innings.

Long’s double and Giles’ third-inning homer built a 3-0 lead for the Padres.

Jeff Bagwell hit a two-run single with two outs in the fourth on a liner to center that Jay Payton misjudged.

The ball skipped under his glove and Bagwell took third on the error, but Morgan Ensberg lined out.

Khalil Greene’s run-scoring single made it 4-2 in the bottom half, but Brad Ausmus homered leading off the fifth.

Loretta, selected to his first NL All-Star team on Monday, connected off reliever Mike Gallo in the bottom half.

Colorado 8, San Francisco 6 -- Jeromy Burnitz homered and drove in three runs, including a go-ahead single in the ninth at San Francisco, as the Rockies rallied to win their fifth in a row.

Burnitz singled off Jason Christiansen (1-2) with two outs. Christiansen hit Larry Walker with a pitch and walked Matt Holliday ahead of Burnitz. Charles Johnson added a run-scoring single.

Barry Bonds was intentionally walked twice, bringing his season total to 65, three off his major-league mark of 68 in 2002.

Atlanta 1, Montreal 0 -- Russ Ortiz (9-6) pitched seven scoreless innings at San Juan, Puerto Rico, to put the Braves over .500 for the first time in nearly a month. Atlanta (42-41) has won nine of 12 since June 24.

Milwaukee 4, Chicago 2 -- Keith Ginter hit a two-run homer off Mark Prior (2-2) at Milwaukee and Victor Santos (8-3) won for the sixth time in seven starts, giving up two runs and five hits in 6 2/3 innings, as the Brewers notched their first winning record at the halfway point since 1998.

St. Louis 5, Cincinnati 3 -- Jim Edmonds homered and saved one with his glove, and Edgar Renteria hit a go-ahead, two-run drive in the seventh inning as the Cardinals won at St. Louis.

New York 4, Philadelphia 1 -- Al Leiter (5-2) pitched seven solid innings to win for the fourth time in six starts as the Mets won at Philadelphia and pulled within two games of the NL East-leading Phillies.

Florida 6, Pittsburgh 3 -- The Pirates’ 10-game winning streak ended, with Alex Gonzalez hitting a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the seventh inning at Miami. Pittsburgh’s winning streak was its longest since an 11-game streak from Sept. 12-22, 1996.