By The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS - Woody Williams (3-0) pitched seven shutout innings to extend his scoreless streak this season to 19 2-3 innings as St. Louis won for the fifth time in six games.

Edgar Renteria homered and doubled and Tino Martinez had two hits, a walk and an RBI for St. Louis in the first meeting against Arizona since the Cardinals swept the Diamondbacks in the first round of the playoffs.

The Cardinals, who entered the game with an NL-leading .309 average, had five doubles despite missing Albert Pujols, who has a sprained right elbow and could be limited to pinch hit duties for three weeks.

Diamondbacks starter Elmer Dessens (1-2) allowed five runs and eight hits in five innings.

Braves 5, Phillies 4

ATLANTA - Despite another mediocre outing from Greg Maddux, the Atlanta Braves rallied for their fifth straight victory, beating the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4 Friday night.

Vinny Castilla's two-run double capped a four-run sixth inning for the Braves, who climbed above .500 (9-8) for the first time this season and within a half-game of first-place Montreal in the NL East.

Maddux left trailing 4-1. The four-time Cy Young winner gave up eight hits and three earned runs in 5 2-3 innings, though he still managed to lower his ERA from 8.27 to 7.52.

Randy Wolf (2-1) took the loss.

Cubs 7, Pirates 2

PITTSBURGH - Hee Seop Choi's two-run double helped Chicago open a four-run lead before Kris Benson (2-2) retired a batter, and Matt Clement limited Pittsburgh to two hits over seven innings.

The Cubs failed to score in double digits, as they did in their previous three games, but still won their fourth in a row to maintain their NL Central lead. They can match the club record of 16 April victories set in 1969 by splitting their final 10 games this month.

Given a 4-0 lead before taking the mound, Clement (2-1) made his third successive strong start by striking out 10 and walking three - the eighth time in his career he's struck out 10 or more.

Mets 6, Marlins 3

NEW YORK - Tony Clark's first career pinch-hit homer, a tiebreaking three-run shot in the eighth inning off Vladimir Nunez (0-2), sent New York past Florida.

Mo Vaughn and Mike Piazza also knocked in runs for the Mets, who have won three of four following a six-game losing streak. Ty Wigginton tied it at 3 with a two-out RBI single in the seventh.

David Weathers (1-0) worked a scoreless eighth for the victory. Armando Benitez pitched the ninth for his fifth save in eight chances, getting Luis Castillo to ground into a double play with two on to end it.

Astros 11, Brewers 5

MILWAUKEE - Morgan Ensberg homered and capped a six-run fourth inning with a two-run single as Houston beat Milwaukee.

Roy Oswalt (2-1) struggled for the second consecutive start, but notched his first victory since opening day. Oswalt allowed four runs and eight hits in five innings and has allowed 14 runs his past two starts.

Jeff Bagwell led off the fourth against Glendon Rusch (1-3) by hitting his seventh homer of the year for a 1-0 lead. By the time the inning was over, the Astros had a 6-0 lead.

Craig Biggio added his 200th career homer in the eighth inning for Houston, which had a season-high 17 hits.

Rockies 12, Padres 1

DENVER - Aaron Cook (1-1) came within one out of the 13th complete-game shutout in Coors Field history and had three hits of his own as Colorado beat San Diego.

Cook allowed five hits and only one runner past first base until the ninth inning when the Padres scored on Shane Victorino's sacrifice fly.

Chris Stynes, Jay Payton and Preston Wilson each homered and every Rockies starter except Ronnie Belliard had at least one hit.

Oliver Perez (0-2) failed to pitch past the fifth inning for his fourth straight start.

Giants 5, Dodgers 1

LOS ANGELES - Marquis Grissom homered against his former team and Jason Schmidt pitched into the eighth inning as San Francisco earned its 14th victory in 16 games this season.

J.T. Snow drove in three runs for the Giants, who improved to 7-0 on the road for the first time in franchise history. They're off to their best 16-game start since the 1918 New York Giants opened 18-1.

San Francisco is the 10th team since 1900 to win 14 of its first 16 games.

Schmidt (2-0) allowed one run and four hits in 7 1-3 innings before a sellout crowd of 54,799. He struck out eight and walked four.

Felix Rodriguez got four straight outs for his second save, finishing the four-hitter.

Kevin Brown (1-1) gave up five runs on eight hits in five innings. The Dodgers are 0-4 against rival San Francisco this season.