DENVER — Troy Tulowitzki hit for the cycle and had a career-high seven RBI to help Colorado beat Chicago 11-5 on Monday night.
Tulowitzki, who had a grand slam denied in the first video review ever at Coors Field, led off the seventh a triple shy of the franchise’s fifth cycle and first in nine years. He laced a 3-2 pitch down the left-field line and slid headfirst into the bag before third baseman Jake Fox could corral the throw from left.
Tulowitzki hit his 21st homer in the first, singled in the second and doubled in the fourth in his first three at-bats. He added a two-run single in the eighth to finish with five hits.
It was the sixth cycle in the majors this season.
Todd Helton had two singles to extend his hitting streak to 15 games and Jorge De La Rosa (10-8) struck out 11 for the Rockies, who took three of the four games in the wraparound series with the Cubs.
Tom Gorzelanny (4-2) gave up six runs and six hits and left in the second inning after taking a hard grounder on the foot.
Dodgers 4, Giants 2
SAN FRANCISCO — Matt Kemp hit a three-run double to back a strong effort from Hiroki Kuroda and help slumping Los Angeles win the opener of the key three-game series.
The first meeting in three months between the longtime foes came as the Giants had closed within 5½ games of the first-place Dodgers in the NL West.
Los Angeles had lost three straight and 11 of 17 heading into the series.
Manny Ramirez sparked a four-run fourth inning with a one-out single. Following consecutive walks by Jonathan Sanchez (5-10) to load the bases, Kemp hit his double to clear the bases. Mark Loretta capped the inning with an RBI single.
The Dodgers won for the sixth time in the last seven games started by Kuroda (5-5). He allowed a solo homer to Travis Ishikawa in the second and went 6 1-3 innings, allowing six hits and one walk.
The Dodgers used four relievers the rest of the way. Jonathan Broxton pitched the ninth for his 25th save, allowing a solo homer to Bengie Molina.
Cardinals 4, Reds 1
ST. LOUIS — Kyle Lohse won for the first time since injuring his forearm more than 2½ months ago, working six effective innings for St. Louis.
Colby Rasmus drew a bases-loaded walk in the fifth inning off Kip Wells (0-3) for the go-ahead run and Matt Holliday, Khalil Greene and Brendan Ryan hit balls off the wall in a two-run sixth. The NL Central leaders have won four straight, and at 63-51 are a season-high 12 games above .500.
Reds starter Johnny Cueto injured his left hip running out a grounder in the third and left the game.
Lohse (5-7) won for the first time in six starts since coming off the disabled list on July 12, limiting the Reds to a run and four hits. Lohse, who won for the first time since being struck on the arm while squaring to bunt on May 23, had been 0-3 with a 5.84 ERA since coming off the DL.
Ryan Franklin finished for his 27th save.
Marlins 8, Astros 6
MIAMI — Rick VandenHurk pitched five effective innings and five Florida players had at least one RBI in the Marlins’ fourth straight win.
John Baker had two RBIs, and NL batting leader Hanley Ramirez had two singles and an RBI to help chase starter Brian Moehler (7-8) after five innings.
VandenHurk (2-1) struck out four and allowed two runs and five hits.
Darin Erstad had a home run and three RBI for Houston.
Florida lost three straight last week to the last-place Washington Nationals and then went into Philadelphia for a three-game sweep.
Baker hit a two-run double, Jorge Cantu had an RBI single and Cody Ross added a sacrifice fly in the first inning to put Florida ahead 4-0.
Carlos Lee had a two-run double in the ninth off Matt Lindstrom, and he scored on a balk by Leo Nunez, who got the last two outs for his 12th save.
Diamondbacks 7, Mets 4
PHOENIX — Doug Davis had a two-run double and won his third straight decision, Trent Oeltjen hit his third homer in four major league games and Arizona handed New York its ninth loss in 12 games.
Arizona catcher Miguel Montero had three doubles and first baseman Chad Tracy had two run-scoring singles as the Diamondbacks beat the Mets for the fourth time in five meetings this season.
Arizona has won eight of 12 overall.
Davis hit a line drive to short center field that got past a diving Angel Pagan, scoring two runs to make it 3-0 in the second. Montero had driven in Mark Reynolds for the first run off Mike Pelfrey (8-8).
Fernando Tatis had a two-run triple off Davis (7-10) in the fourth inning.
Davis, who is 3-1 in eight career starts against the Mets, won consecutive starts for the first time since having surgery to remove a cancerous thyroid in April 2008.
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