DENVER (AP) - Carlos Beltran hit a career-high three homers and drove in six runs to help the New York Mets beat Ubaldo Jimenez and the Colorado Rockies 9-5 on Thursday in a game delayed more than two hours by rain.
Beltran homered from both sides of the plate and reached all parts of the ballpark with his three two-run homers: straightaway center in the first, deep left in the seventh and into the right-field seats in the ninth.
The switch-hitting outfielder became the eighth Mets player to hit three in a game, and first since Jose Reyes on Aug. 15, 2006, at Philadelphia.
Reyes hit a two-run single in the fourth that chased Jimenez (0-3) and kept the Rockies' ace searching for his elusive first win of the season. He lasted just 3 2-3 innings in his shortest stint of the season, surrendering five runs and three hits while walking six.
With San Francisco beating Arizona earlier in the day, Colorado fell out of at least a tie for the lead in the NL West for the first time since April 5. The Rockies have now dropped six of their last seven contests, including two of three against the Mets, a team they swept in a four-game series at Citi Field last month.
Relying on his curveball, Jonathon Niese (2-4) was solid for 6 1-3 innings, allowing solo homers to Jonathan Herrera and Todd Helton.
Braves 6, Nationals 5, 10 innings
ATLANTA (AP) - Martin Prado hit a tying grand slam in the seventh inning, then scored the winning run on Brian McCann's single to right field in the 10th for Atlanta.
Doug Slaten (0-1) walked Prado to open the 10th inning, and Prado advanced to second on Nate McLouth's sacrifice bunt. Slaten intentionally walked Chipper Jones - who hit his fourth homer in the third inning - and McCann delivered the winning hit.
Braves players rushed out of the dugout to join him as soon as he rounded first base.
Craig Kimbrel (1-1), who blew his third save in the Braves' 7-3 loss to Washington in 11 innings on Wednesday night, struck out the side in the 10th to earn the victory.
Danny Espinosa hit a two-run homer for Washington in the second inning, and Ivan Rodriguez added a sixth-inning shot for the Nationals.
Cardinals 9, Cubs 1
CHICAGO (AP) - Unbeaten Jaime Garcia pitched seven effective innings and Matt Holliday homered to start an early burst in St. Louis' victory over Chicago.
Garcia (5-0), who carried a perfect game into the eighth in his previous start against Milwaukee, allowed one run and nine hits. He complemented his 84-pitch outing by hitting an RBI single.
St. Louis finished with 16 hits and took two of three in the series without manager Tony La Russa, who is back in St. Louis recovering from shingles.
Holliday led off a five-run second with his fifth homer, a long shot off Casey Coleman (1-3) that cleared the bleachers in left field. Colby Rasmus singled, Yadier Molina doubled and with one out, the Cubs intentionally walked Tyler Greene to load the bases. But Garcia foiled that strategy with an RBI single, Jon Jay followed with a two-run double and Allen Craig hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-0.
Giants 3, Diamondbacks 2
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Matt Cain had his best outing in nearly a month, Nate Schierholtz added three hits to help San Francisco beat Arizona to complete a perfect homestand.
Eli Whiteside doubled twice to help the Giants go 6-0 at home. They swept Colorado and then Arizona to extend their season-high winning streak to six games.
Gerardo Parra, Xavier Nady and Justin Upton had two hits apiece for Arizona, which has lost four straight.
The Diamondbacks scored twice in the eighth and had the tying run at third base with one out in the ninth before Javier Lopez got the final two outs for his first save in nearly five years.
Cain (3-2) scattered seven hits over 7 2-3 innings in his first win since April 15. The San Francisco right-hander also survived a scary moment in the seventh when he appeared to get hit on his pitching hand on a ball thrown by Arizona starter Daniel Hudson (3-5).