MILWAUKEE - Matt Kinney barely made the Milwaukee Brewers' rotation out of spring training. So far, he's been their best starter.

Kinney pitched seven scoreless innings and Richie Sexson and Geoff Jenkins hit consecutive home runs as Milwaukee beat the Houston Astros 4-2 Thursday night.

Kinney (2-1) beat out Ruben Quevedo late in spring training for the final spot in the rotation. Coming off a 3-2 victory over Curt Schilling and Arizona last week, Kinney held Houston to four singles while walking one and striking out six.

"Matt Kinney was on the attack from the first pitch on," Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said. "He went out there with confidence in his fastball and confidence in his breaking ball."

A day after the Brewers lost 15-2 to St. Louis, Kinney and Valerio De Los Santos shut down a Houston lineup missing Lance Berkman, Craig Biggio and Jeff Kent.

"He threw a lot of strikes," Jeff Bagwell said of Kinney. "He got ahead of a lot of guys throwing in and out. Myself, he didn't give me a good pitch to hit all night."

Kinney credited catcher Eddie Perez with calling a good game, and used his fastball mainly to throw first-pitch strikes to 14 of the 25 batters he faced.

"You kind of get on the attack a little bit," Kinney said. "It makes it a lot easier than being down 3-1 and the hitters are on the attack."

Despite the success, Kinney is slated to make only one more start before joining the bullpen for a couple of weeks. Due to days off, the Brewers will need only four starters for a stretch in late April and early May.

Milwaukee's win combined with Cincinnati's loss puts the Brewers in fifth place in the NL Central, the first time they've been out of the cellar since being tied for fifth on May 18, 2002. The Brewers have won six of 10 after losing their first six games.

"Those first six games, nothing was going our way," Perez said. "The thing about baseball is you have to be positive. We never lost that positive thing."

De Los Santos got six outs for his first career save, allowing solo homers to Bagwell and Richard Hidalgo in the ninth.

Tim Redding (0-2) lasted only 3 1-3 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and one walk. He has not won in 12 consecutive starts dating to May 13, 2002, against Philadelphia.

Dodgers 4, Padres 3

LOS ANGELES - Pinch hitter Todd Hundley hit a three-run homer to cap a four-run eighth as Los Angeles beat San Diego.

Fred McGriff's leadoff double in the fourth was the Dodgers' last hit until Shawn Green and Brian Jordan opened the eighth with singles against Jesse Orosco (0-1). Daryle Ward delivered an RBI single for the Dodgers' first run.

Troy Brohawn (1-0) recorded the victory with an inning of one-hit relief. Eric Gagne pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save in as many attempts.

Adam Eaton allowed three hits over six scoreless innings and Rondell White homered for the fifth time in seven games for the Padres.

Braves 14, Expos 8

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Island favorite Javy Lopez' second homer of the game, a grand slam in the 10th inning, set off a festive celebration ves over the Montreal Expos 14-8 Thursday for a three-game sweep.

So popular in his homeland that he bought 40 tickets each day, Lopez rewarded his fans with a career-high six RBIs. Both of his homers brought prolonged chants and cheers led by his dad - prompting a pair of rare curtain calls by a visiting player.

Rafael Furcal hit his first homer, Marcus Giles homered, doubled twice and singled, and Andruw Jones also homered as the Braves won their fourth in a row and reached .500 for the first time this season.

Endy Chavez hit a two-run homer in the eighth for Montreal that made it 8-all.

Jung Keun Bong (2-0) pitched a perfect ninth for the win.

Rocky Biddle (1-1) took the loss.

Diamondbacks 11, Rockies 2

PHOENIX - Carlos Baerga drove in a career-best seven runs with two homers and a double and Curt Schilling pitched a four-hitter for his first victory of the season as Arizona routed Colorado.

Baerga, starting at second base in place of slumping Junior Spivey, hit his first grand slam in nearly 10 years, off Jason Jennings (1-2) in the second inning.

The Diamondbacks won consecutive games for the first time this season and split the four-game series.

Schilling gave up a double to Ronnie Belliard to start the game, then retired 19 in a row before Todd Helton singled in the seventh.

Schilling (1-2) struck out 10 and walked none in his 77th career complete game and first this season. He threw 102 pitches, 78 strikes.

Marlins 7, Phillies 3

PHILADELPHIA - Mike Lowell drove in four runs with three extra-base hits and Carl Pavano pitched six shutout innings for Florida.

Luis Castillo had three hits, three stolen bases and two runs scored for the Marlins, who swiped five bases in all to gain a split of the four-game series.

Lowell doubled twice and hit the first triple of his career. Pavano (2-2) allowed only two hits, struck out five and walked one.

Kevin Millwood (2-1) lasted only 3 2-3 innings in his worst outing of the year, giving up seven runs, seven hits and four walks.

Mets 7, Pirates 2

PITTSBURGH - Jae Seo pitched seven shutout innings for his first major league victory and Mo Vaughn had four hits and four RBIs.

Vaughn had an RBI double in the first off Jeff D'Amico (1-2) and a three-run double in the seventh.

Jeromy Burnitz and Mike Piazza hit long homers as the Mets won for the third time on a 10-game road trip in which they averaged only three runs.

The Pirates, losing their sixth in nine games, also aren't scoring runs, and it showed against Seo (1-1), who allowed only five singles in his fourth big league appearance.