Lucroy leads Cubs over Brewers

Arizona Diamondbacks’ Chris Young (L) follows his two-run home run as Los Angeles Dodgers’ starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw (2nd L) and catcher A.J. Ellis (2nd R) watch along with home plate umpire Marty Foster during their game in Los Angeles Thursday. — AP

CHICAGO — Jonathan Lucroy hit a grand slam and drove in seven runs for Milwaukee, but Alfonso Soriano’s RBI single capped a three-run comeback in the ninth inning Thursday that lifted the Chicago Cubs over the Brewers 12-11.

In a seesaw game featuring a combined 15 extra-base hits, the Cubs led 3-0, trailed 9-3 and were still down 11-9 going into the ninth.

Starlin Castro hit an RBI single against Francisco Rodriguez (2-7), Anthony Rizzo tied it with his second double of the afternoon and Soriano won the game with his one-out drive off the center-field wall.

Lucroy tied his career high for RBIs and Rickie Weeks had five hits. Ryan Braun and Cody Ransom also homered for Milwaukee, which had won eight straight against the Cubs.

Phillies 3, Mets 2: Phillies star Jimmy Rollins was benched after a pair of baserunning blunders in Philadelphia’s win over the Mets.

Rollins was pulled for the start of the seventh inning after a pair of mistakes in the sixth.

The former NL MVP failed to run hard on a dropped popup that could have put him on second base. He stole second base, then was caught in a rundown on a grounder and was tagged out.

Rollins drew the ire of Phillies fans earlier this month when he jogged down the line on a grounder in a game at Miami. He met privately with manager Charlie Manuel the next day. Manuel refused to bench his All-Star shortstop then. He had no hesitation against the Mets.

Nationals 8, Cardinals 1: Bryce Harper hit his third home run in two games, Jason Werth homered for the first time since May, and Edwin Jackson struck out 10 Thursday night as the Nationals padded their NL East lead with a win over the punchless Cardinals.

The Nationals opened an 11-game homestand with an overwhelming performance against a wild-card contender that failed to score an earned run for the third straight game.

Jackson (8-9) was so dominant that three of his strikeouts required throws to first because the Cardinals were chasing balls in the dirt.

The victory moved the Nationals 5½ games ahead of idle Atlanta. Jaime Garcia (3-6) allowed six runs for the Cardinals, whose streak of 28 scoreless innings ended in the eighth.

Giants 8, Astros 4: Hunter Pence hit a go-ahead two-run single in the seventh inning and the Giants rallied again for a win over the Astros.

The Giants were down 4-0 after four innings. They cut the lead to one with a three-run fifth inning, and Pablo Sandoval singled in a run in the seventh to tie it. Pence, who hit a three-run homer on Wednesday, then caused trouble for his former team again, this time with a two RBI grounder off Fernando Rodriguez (1-9) to shallow center field that put San Francisco on top 6-4.

San Francisco came back to win the opener of the series and Thursday’s win completed their sixth sweep this season.

Daimondbacks 2, Dodgers 0: Ian Kennedy pitched two-hit ball into the seventh inning and Chris Young hit a two-run homer off Clayton Kershaw to help the Diamondbacks beat the Dodgers, snapping a six-game skid. — Agencies