Votto goes deep to lead Reds to win, Keppinger out

Keppinger, the Reds’ leading hitter, is scheduled for an MRI exam Wednesday.

Pinch-hitter Cody Ross homered in the eighth to cut Cincinnati’s lead to 5-3, and Jeremy Hermida had a leadoff walk in the ninth against Francisco Cordero. Hermida advanced to second on a wild pitch, but Cordero retired Hanley Ramirez and Jorge Cantu on groundouts and struck out Dan Uggla for his seventh save.

Padres 4, Cubs 3 At Chicago, Khalil Greene hit a three-run home run to help Shawn Estes earn his first victory since 2005 in San Diego’s win over Chicago.

Estes (1-0) pitched 5 1-3 innings and the Padres’ bullpen secured the win with 3 2-3 innings of hitless relief. Trevor Hoffman pitched a scoreless ninth for his seventh save, and 531st of his career.

Alfonso Soriano led off the first inning with a home run and Reed Johnson had a two-run double for the Cubs.

Cubs starter Jason Marquis (1-3) couldn’t hold an early 3-0 lead, giving up back-to-back singles to Adrian Gonzalez and Scott Hairston in the fourth inning before Greene homered to tie it.

Mets 6, Nationals 3 At New York, Ryan Church homered, doubled and drove in four runs against his former team and John Maine pitched six sharp innings to lead the New York Mets over Washington.

Maine (5-2) was mostly dominant for his second straight start, allowing just two runs — one earned — and two hits and retiring 11 of the last 12 batter he faced after giving up Ryan Zimmerman’s two-run homer to left in the third.

Phillies 5, Braves 4 At Philadelphia, Jayson Werth drove in four runs, Kyle Kendrick pitched six effective innings and Philadelphia beat Atlanta.

Kendrick (3-2) shook off a shaky first inning and allowed three runs and six hits. Brad Lidge finished for his 10th save in as many chances, though he allowed his first earned run of the season.

Chipper Jones went 3-for-4 for the Braves, raising his major league-leading average to .415.