The Associated Press

It didn't take long for the Atlanta Braves to resume their winning ways.

After losing eight of their first 12, the Braves have won nine of 10 to tie Montreal and Philadelphia for the NL East lead.

Andruw Jones sparked the latest victory, hitting a two-run single in the ninth inning for a 4-3 home victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night.

"Everybody in the lineup is swinging the bat good," Jones said. "Everybody is doing the right things for us to win."

With Atlanta trailing 3-2 in the ninth, Rafael Furcal hit a leadoff single, Marcus Giles sacrificed and Steve Kline (0-2) loaded the bases with walks to Gary Sheffield and Chipper Jones.

Andruw Jones then singled off Cal Eldred, seeking the first save of his career.

"It backfired on me," said Kline, who pitched around Sheffield.

Ray King (1-0) pitched a hitless inning to earn his first win for the Braves. The Cardinals lost their fifth in a row but starter Woody Williams stretched his scoreless streak to 25 innings before Atlanta scored twice in the sixth to tie it.

Phillies 9, Rockies 1

Chase Utley hit a grand slam in his first major league game as a starter, leading Philadelphia to a three-game sweep of visiting Colorado.

Utley flied out in the second, then gave the Phillies a 6-0 lead in the third when homered off Aaron Cook (1-2) and became the first major leaguer with a grand slam for his first hit since Boston's Creighton Gubanich against Oakland in 1999.

Pat Burrell also homered to back Randy Wolf (3-1), who struck out eight in 7 2-3 innings.

Giants 3, Pirates 1

Damian Moss (4-0) allowed five hits over seven-plus shutout innings at Pittsburgh.

Barry Bonds singled his first two times up and drove in the first run in a three-run third inning against Kris Benson (2-3) after sitting out two games because of a stiff neck.

Tim Worrell gave up an RBI double to pinch-hitter Matt Stairs with two outs in the ninth, then retired Abraham Nunez on a groundout for his seventh save.

Padres 2, Cubs 1

Oliver Perez (1-2), winless in his first four starts, struck out six in 6 1-3 scoreless innings at Wrigley Field, allowing six hits.

Chicago lost consecutive games for only the second time this season. The other was on April 10-11 against Montreal.

San Diego got its runs in the third off Matt Clement (2-2) when Ramon Vazquez singled and scored on a double by Keith Lockhart, who came around on a single by Ryan Klesko.

Mets 7, Astros 4

Pedro Astacio (1-0), out since spring training with right shoulder tendinitis, allowed two runs and four hits in six innings, and Roberto Alomar had two doubles and two RBIs.

New York matched its longest winning streak of the season at two and its season high for runs. Armando Benitez got the final out for his seventh save in 11 chances.

Wade Miller (0-2) gave up five runs, six hits and four walks in three-plus innings as visiting Houston (10-11) fell below .500 for the first time this year.

Expos 1, Diamondbacks 0

Javier Vazquez (3-1) combined with Joey Eischen and Rocky Biddle for Montreal's major league-leading fifth shutout, and Vladimir Guerrero hit his fifth homer in the seventh off Byung-Hyun Kim (1-4).

Vazquez allowed six hits in seven innings and struck out nine as Montreal blanked visiting Arizona for the second time in three days. Biddle got his fifth save. Montreal was outhit 6-3.

Marlins 4, Brewers 2

Mark Redman (2-2) struck out a career-high 11 and pitched a four-hitter at Miami as Florida completed a three-game sweep.

Alex Gonzalez had two RBIs off Todd Ritchie (1-2), who gave up four runs on nine hits in five innings. The game drew 9,069, the Marlins' lowest home crowd of the season. Milwaukee lost for the seventh time in its last 11 games.