CINCINNATI –

Mike Leake can look forward to next year thinking about how well he ended this season.

Leake pitched eight effective innings, Brandon Phillips homered again and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs 2-1 Tuesday night to end a three-game losing streak.

Leake (12-9) made the majors right out of Arizona State and this is just his second season working out of a five-man rotation. The Reds thought it best to limit his innings and do not plan to pitch him again this year.

He finished with 175 innings, with all but seven in the major leagues. He is the Reds’ leader in wins and strikeouts.

“I’d like to finish the year but I understand,” Leake said. “The want to protect me and protect themselves.”

Leake allowed one run on six hits and two walks and struck out two.

Leake pitched a career-high nine innings in his previous start, giving up three hits against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He took a one-hit shutout into the ninth in that game before giving up Starlin Castro’s two-out infield single and pinch-hitter Bryan LaHair’s tying home run.

“We wanted him to have one more start after that tough ending last time,” manager Dusty Baker said. “He’s matured a lot as a pitcher and a person. He reads bats well, fields his position and is an all-around player. We will limit him to pinch-running and in dire circumstances pinch-hitting.”

Leake was happy with his season, even with a brief demotion to Triple-A Louisville.

“It was a good learning year. It was nice to go down for a couple weeks and prove I belong,” Leake said.

Phillips homered for the third time in two games. He has 15 home runs this year.

Francisco Cordero pitched the ninth for his 33rd save.

The Cubs saw their three-game winning streak come to an end while wasting a solid pitching performance by Ryan Dempster (10-12). He allowed two runs and six hits, striking out eight in seven innings.

“That was fun,” Dempster said.

After combining for 27 hits, including seven home runs, and 20 runs in Monday’s 12-8 Chicago win, the Reds and Cubs produced a total of 12 hits and three runs with one homer on Tuesday.

Phillips connected in the bottom of the first for his third home run in four at-bats over the last two games.

The Reds made it 2-0 in the fifth. Devin Mesoraco drew a leadoff walk, Leake grounded into a forceout, Phillips walked and Edgar Renteria hit an RBI single. Renteria had three hits.

Carlos Pena led off the Cubs sixth with a double. He moved to third on LaHair’s soft single to left-center field and scored on Alfonso Soriano’s double-play grounder.

NOTES: Castro walked to lead off the game for the second consecutive night. He has reached base at least once in 26 consecutive games. … LaHair extended his career-opening hitting streak to eight games. … Reds RHP Johnny Cueto, Cincinnati’s scheduled starter on Wednesday, trails Los Angeles LHP Clayton Kershaw in the NL ERA race by .0044 percentage points. Cueto has gone four starts without a decision, including two blown saves. … Chicago’s scheduled starter, RHP Casey Coleman, hasn’t won in nine appearances, including seven starts, since May 19 at Florida. He is 0-4 in the span.

Leake (12-9) made the majors right out of Arizona State and this is just his second season working out of a five-man rotation. The Reds thought it best to limit his innings and do not plan to pitch him again this year.

He finished with 175 innings, with all but seven in the major leagues. He is the Reds’ leader in wins and strikeouts.

“I’d like to finish the year but I understand,” Leake said. “The want to protect me and protect themselves.”

Leake allowed one run on six hits and two walks and struck out two.

Leake pitched a career-high nine innings in his previous start, giving up three hits against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He took a one-hit shutout into the ninth in that game before giving up Starlin Castro’s two-out infield single and pinch-hitter Bryan LaHair’s tying home run.

“We wanted him to have one more start after that tough ending last time,” manager Dusty Baker said. “He’s matured a lot as a pitcher and a person. He reads bats well, fields his position and is an all-around player. We will limit him to pinch-running and in dire circumstances pinch-hitting.”

Leake was happy with his season, even with a brief demotion to Triple-A Louisville.

“It was a good learning year. It was nice to go down for a couple weeks and prove I belong,” Leake said.

Phillips homered for the third time in two games. He has 15 home runs this year.

Francisco Cordero pitched the ninth for his 33rd save.

The Cubs saw their three-game winning streak come to an end while wasting a solid pitching performance by Ryan Dempster (10-12). He allowed two runs and six hits, striking out eight in seven innings.

“That was fun,” Dempster said.

After combining for 27 hits, including seven home runs, and 20 runs in Monday’s 12-8 Chicago win, the Reds and Cubs produced a total of 12 hits and three runs with one homer on Tuesday.

Phillips connected in the bottom of the first for his third home run in four at-bats over the last two games.

The Reds made it 2-0 in the fifth. Devin Mesoraco drew a leadoff walk, Leake grounded into a forceout, Phillips walked and Edgar Renteria hit an RBI single. Renteria had three hits.

Carlos Pena led off the Cubs sixth with a double. He moved to third on LaHair’s soft single to left-center field and scored on Alfonso Soriano’s double-play grounder.

NOTES: Castro walked to lead off the game for the second consecutive night. He has reached base at least once in 26 consecutive games. … LaHair extended his career-opening hitting streak to eight games. … Reds RHP Johnny Cueto, Cincinnati’s scheduled starter on Wednesday, trails Los Angeles LHP Clayton Kershaw in the NL ERA race by .0044 percentage points. Cueto has gone four starts without a decision, including two blown saves. … Chicago’s scheduled starter, RHP Casey Coleman, hasn’t won in nine appearances, including seven starts, since May 19 at Florida. He is 0-4 in the span.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Hunter Pence homered for the second straight game, and Cliff Lee got his sixth straight win Wednesday night, leading the Philadelphia Phillies to a 3-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds that took them to a new high point.

The NL East leaders are a season-best 40 games over .500, boasting the majors’ best record at 86-46.

Lee (15-7) extended the Phillie starters’ domination, coming within one out of his sixth shutout. He left with two outs and the bases loaded in the ninth. Ryan Madson retired Yonder Alonso on a foul pop for his 25th save in 27 chances.

The Phillies’ second straight shutout gave them 19 this season, most in the majors.

Pence homered off left-hander Dontrelle Willis (0-4), the Reds’ hard-luck starter.

Cincinnati entered the series on a hot streak, winning four straight. The Reds ran into an old problem — they can’t do anything against the Phillies’ pitching.

The Phillies swept them in the playoffs last season, with Roy Halladay throwing a no-hitter. Philadelphia is 20-6 against Cincinnati lately, including 6-1 this season.

Philadelphia scored in the first inning when the Reds failed to turn a double play with two runners aboard. Pence led off the sixth with his 18th homer, extending his hitting streak to seven games. Philadelphia scored another run on a forceout in the seventh.

More than enough for this staff.

Lee, who celebrated his 33rd birthday on Tuesday, hasn’t lost since July 25. The left-hander has given up only six earned runs in his last six starts. He’s been especially tough on the road, where he hasn’t allowed a run in his last 30 2-3 innings since July 19.

Lee retired the first two batters in the ninth, then gave up a double to Joey Votto, walked Jay Bruce and hit Miguel Cairo with his 117th pitch, forcing manager Charlie Manuel to go to the bullpen.

No matter how well he pitches or hits, Willis can’t get a win. He gets the lowest run support among Reds starters, and the bullpen has blown save chances in three of his starts. He gave up five hits in 6 2-3 innings.

Earlier Wednesday, the Phillies made a move to strengthen their bench, acquiring outfielder John Bowker from Pittsburgh. Bowker spent most of the season in the minors, batting .306 with 15 homers.

Bowker bats left-handed and can play left field, right field and first base. He drove over from Triple-A Indianapolis to join the team for the game.

Notes: Lee was loudly booed in the fourth, when he grounded to second baseman Brandon Phillips, took a couple steps toward first, waved his right hand and headed back to the dugout. … Reds SS Paul Janish extended his career-worst slump to 0 for 26. … The Phillies have won all seven of their four-game series this season. They have never had a four-game sweep in Cincinnati. … The Phillies will start RHP Vance Worley in the final game on Thursday afternoon. Worley had a no-decision in his May 24 start against the Reds, giving up three runs in five innings. The Reds will go with RHP Mike Leake, who has given up 11 runs in 14 1-3 innings of his two starts against Philadelphia. … The Reds plan to call up seven players from the minors on Thursday, including C Devin Mesoraco, their top draft pick in 2007. It will be his major league debut.

CINCINNATI (AP)—Those two home runs aside, Joey Votto(notes) thought he had a
pretty lousy day at the plate.

He hit a tying shot in the first and led off the 14th inning with his second
homer to give the Cincinnati Reds a 5-4 win over the Washington Nationals on
Sunday.

“It didn’t feel like a great day with the bat for me but I end up with a
couple homers and a couple walks. It’s such an odd game sometimes,” Votto said.

Votto has hit longer home runs but few as effective.

“The first home run just scraped out of the ballpark and then the last one
kind of the same thing but I didn’t feel very good today.”

Reds pinch-hitter Yonder Alonso(notes) opened the ninth with a home run off Drew
Storen(notes), making it 4-all.

Votto hit a full-count pitch from Collin Balester(notes) (1-3) into the left-field
bleachers to push the Reds over .500 for the first time since July 3.

The second winning homer of his career sent the Nationals to a sixth
straight loss, tying their season high.

“It’s a shame there wasn’t a runner in scoring position or we could have
walked him,” Nationals manager Davey Johnson said.

Johnny Cueto(notes) and five Reds relievers combined for 19 strikeouts, tying the
team record. Cueto fanned 11 in seven innings.

Bill Bray(notes) (4-2) allowed one hit in the 14th to get the win.

“We’re always talking about picking each other up,” Baker said. “The
bullpen has picked us up a lot of times. We had a number of chances and they had
a number of chances.”

Baker, Johnson and Washington bench coach Pat Corrales all were ejected.

The Nationals loaded the bases with one out in the top of the 10th, but Ian
Desmond(notes) lined to shortstop Edgar Renteria(notes), who stepped on second for an
unassisted double play.

Cueto maintained his NL ERA lead despite allowing a season-high nine hits.
He gave up two runs and finished the day with a 2.05 ERA—up from the 2.03
figure he took into the game. Cueto hit two batters and walked one.

Washington pushed across a run with two outs in the first on Danny
Espinosa’s(notes) single.

Votto tied it in the first and Jay Bruce(notes) put the Reds ahead in the fourth
with his 28th homer.

The Nationals strung together consecutive inning-opening singles by Desmond,
Jayson Werth(notes) and Rick Ankiel(notes) to make it 2-all in the fifth.

Washington starter Jordan Zimmermann(notes) walked Fred Lewis(notes) with the bases loaded
to give the Reds a 3-2 lead.

Zimmermann, making what is expected to be his last start of the season,
allowed six hits and three runs with one walk and six strikeouts in 4 1-3
innings. He had made 25 starts and pitched 161 1-3 innings in his first full
season since undergoing Tommy John surgery in August 2009.

Third baseman Ryan Zimmerman(notes), 3 for 25 (.120) over his last six games,
didn’t start for the Nationals, but he tied it in the eighth by driving in
Espinosa from second base with a two-out, pinch-hit single off Aroldis Chapman(notes).

Werth singled in the ninth inning to give the Nationals the lead, but Alonso
tied it with his third homer since being called up from Triple-A Louisville on
July 26. Storen has blown five of 39 save opportunities.

“I faced him last week and he came right at me,” Alonso said. “I get a
lot of work in the cage and I try to stay positive.”

NOTES: Reds 3B Scott Rolen(notes) has started taking ground balls and live batting
practice and hopes to leave soon on a rehab assignment. He underwent
arthroscopic surgery on Aug. 3 to remove bone spurs and fragments from his left
shoulder. … After a day off Monday in Atlanta, the Nationals open a three-game
series against the Braves with RHP Livan Hernandez(notes) making his 36th career start
against them, the most by any active pitcher. Milwaukee’s Randy Wolf(notes) is next
with 26 starts. … Cincinnati RHP Homer Bailey(notes) will make his first career home
start Monday against the Phillies after going 0-2 with a 7.00 ERA in four starts
at Philadelphia.

Those two home runs aside, Joey Votto thought he had a pretty lousy day at the plate.

He hit a tying shot in the first and led off the 14th inning with his second homer to give the Cincinnati Reds a 5-4 win over the Washington Nationals on Sunday.

“It didn’t feel like a great day with the bat for me but I end up with a couple homers and a couple walks. It’s such an odd game sometimes,” Votto said.

Votto has hit longer home runs but few as effective.

“The first home run just scraped out of the ballpark and then the last one kind of the same thing but I didn’t feel very good today.”

Reds pinch-hitter Yonder Alonso opened the ninth with a home run off Drew Storen, making it 4-all.

Votto hit a full-count pitch from Collin Balester (1-3) into the left-field bleachers to push the Reds over .500 for the first time since July 3.

The second winning homer of his career sent the Nationals to a sixth straight loss, tying their season high.

“It’s a shame there wasn’t a runner in scoring position or we could have walked him,” Nationals manager Davey Johnson said.

Johnny Cueto and five Reds relievers combined for 19 strikeouts, tying the team record. Cueto fanned 11 in seven innings.

Bill Bray (4-2) allowed one hit in the 14th to get the win.

“We’re always talking about picking each other up,” Baker said. “The bullpen has picked us up a lot of times. We had a number of chances and they had a number of chances.”

Baker, Johnson and Washington bench coach Pat Corrales all were ejected.

The Nationals loaded the bases with one out in the top of the 10th, but Ian Desmond lined to shortstop Edgar Renteria, who stepped on second for an unassisted double play.

Cueto maintained his NL ERA lead despite allowing a season-high nine hits. He gave up two runs and finished the day with a 2.05 ERA — up from the 2.03 figure he took into the game. Cueto hit two batters and walked one.

Washington pushed across a run with two outs in the first on Danny Espinosa’s single.

Votto tied it in the first and Jay Bruce put the Reds ahead in the fourth with his 28th homer.

The Nationals strung together consecutive inning-opening singles by Desmond, Jayson Werth and Rick Ankiel to make it 2-all in the fifth.

Washington starter Jordan Zimmermann walked Fred Lewis with the bases loaded to give the Reds a 3-2 lead.

Zimmermann, making what is expected to be his last start of the season, allowed six hits and three runs with one walk and six strikeouts in 4 1-3 innings. He had made 25 starts and pitched 161 1-3 innings in his first full season since undergoing Tommy John surgery in August 2009.

Third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, 3 for 25 (.120) over his last six games, didn’t start for the Nationals, but he tied it in the eighth by driving in Espinosa from second base with a two-out, pinch-hit single off Aroldis Chapman.

Werth singled in the ninth inning to give the Nationals the lead, but Alonso tied it with his third homer since being called up from Triple-A Louisville on July 26. Storen has blown five of 39 save opportunities.

“I faced him last week and he came right at me,” Alonso said. “I get a lot of work in the cage and I try to stay positive.”

NOTES: Reds 3B Scott Rolen has started taking ground balls and live batting practice and hopes to leave soon on a rehab assignment. He underwent arthroscopic surgery on Aug. 3 to remove bone spurs and fragments from his left shoulder. … After a day off Monday in Atlanta, the Nationals open a three-game series against the Braves with RHP Livan Hernandez making his 36th career start against them, the most by any active pitcher. Milwaukee’s Randy Wolf is next with 26 starts. … Cincinnati RHP Homer Bailey will make his first career home start Monday against the Phillies after going 0-2 with a 7.00 ERA in four starts at Philadelphia.

Credit: NBC 4

CINCINNATI – Miguel Cairo singled home the winning run with one out in the ninth inning Friday night, sending the Cincinnati Reds to a 4-3 victory over the Washington Nationals in a game delayed because some of the lights went out.

Cairo’s single to the gap in left-center was the third straight hit off Colin Balester (1-2).

A bank of lights behind first base went out in the top of the seventh. The umpires talked to both managers and decided to continue. The game was halted when another light bank went dark in the eighth, prompting a 17-minute delay.

Washington’s Wilson Ramos hit a three-run homer off left-hander Dontrelle Willis, who remained winless despite matching his career high with three hits. Francisco Cordero (5-3) escaped a scoring threat in the ninth.

Brandon Phillips had a pair of run-scoring singles on a night when the postgame fireworks were dedicated to his musical tastes. Todd Frazier tied it with a run-scoring single in the seventh off reliever Tom Gorzelanny.

Willis threw 123 pitches and had the 15th multihit game of his career, but couldn’t get a win. The left-hander has become the Reds’ hard-luck pitcher. The bullpen has blown a save in three of his starts. Plus, he gets the worst run support on the staff.

Left fielder Jonny Gomes returned for the first time since the Reds traded him for two minor leaguers on July 26, the only deal that the defending NL Central champions made before the non-waiver deadline. He singled, walked, struck out and ground out.

The Reds dedicated their Friday night fireworks to Phillips, using his favorite summer tunes as the soundtrack. The second baseman got the 35,089 fans cheering with an RBI single in the second, when shortstop Ian Desmond’s fielding error set up the unearned run. Phillips also singled home a run in the sixth.

Willis walked a season-high five batters, giving the Nationals plenty of chances. It was familiar for the Nationals, who arrived in a hitting slump – a total of three runs while dropping their last three games. They were 1 for 16 with runners in scoring position during an 8-1 loss to Arizona on Thursday night.

They had only one hit in 14 at-bats with runners in scoring position on Friday night – Ramos’ homer in the fourth inning for a 3-1 lead. His 11 homers are the most in one season by a Nationals catcher.

NOTES: The Nationals placed RH reliever Ryan Mattheus on the 15-day DL with a strained pitching shoulder. A corresponding move is expected on Saturday. … The Reds activated RH reliever Logan Ondrusek off the 15-day DL and optioned LHP Travis Wood to the minors. … RH Mike Leake was the last Reds pitcher to get three hits in a game. He did it July 9, 2010 at Philadelphia. … After their weekend series in Cincinnati, the Nationals go to Atlanta for three more games, avoiding Hurricane Irene. … LHP Ross Detwiler starts Saturday for the Nationals. He ended a three-game losing streak on Monday by beating Arizona 4-1. … Leake tries to become the Reds’ first 11-game winner on Saturday. He’s 2-1 in three career starts against the Nationals.