Dan Uggla News

ATLANTA - Bryce Harper homered and Danny Espinosa added a three-run shot to help Washington strengthen its hold on first place in the NL East by beating reeling Atlanta on Saturday.

Washington Nationals center fielder Rick Ankiel is tagged out by Atlanta Braves second baseman Dan Uggla while trying to steal second in the fourth inning of a baseball game on Friday, May 25, 2012, in Atlanta.

Since we've bombarded you with almost exclusively bad news here from the Queen City these past few days, let's start with a bit of good news: Martin Prado 's bat is blazing.

Todd Frazier hit a one-out homer in the ninth inning Wednesday night, extending the Cincinnati Reds' best surge of the season with a 2-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

Have you been filling out any MLB All-Star Game 2012 ballots at the ballpark or online? I suspect that the balloting won't really pick up until MLB releases some of the voting results shortly after Memorial Day weekend.

Mike Leake gave up one run on two hits over eight innings and also hit a solo home run to lead the Reds to a 4-1 win over the Braves in the opener of a four-game series Monday.

Atlanta Braves second baseman Dan Uggla, left, catches Tampa Bay Rays' Ben Zobrist attempting to steal second base during the fourth inning of an interleague baseball game on Sunday, May 20, 2012, in St.

Batting : Brian McCann has a .340 average with 15 homers and 31 RBIs in 40 games against the Reds, including a .390 average with seven homers and nine RBIs in his past 12 games against them.

One of only four Arizona players whose last name started with the letter Z - you should be able to get the other three.

The Cobb salad may have been invented in Los Angeles, but the Rays served one up this afternoon in the Trop.

Interleague play didn't start the way the Rays had hoped, dropping the first game against Atlanta by the score of 5-3 in front of 19,693 at Tropicana Field.

With a chance to become the majors' first seven-game winner, Shields takes the hill opposite Hanson on Friday night when the Rays open a three-game set with the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves .

Brandon Beachy tossed the first shutout of his career to help the Atlanta Braves take a 7-0 win over the Miami Marlins in the finale of a two-game set.

The Braves drew the American League East in interleague play this season which means series against the Yankees , the Rays, Red Sox, Orioles and Blue Jays.

A comedy of errorsThe Tigers look a lot more like the Royals of the past 15 years than the team many expected to challenge for the AL pennant.Detroit made four errors in the first three innings and lost to the Twins 11-7 on Wednesday in Detroit.

Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer and the Miami Marlins took an 8-4 win over the Atlanta Braves in the opener of a two- game set.

Pitcher Carlos Zambrano of the Chicago Cubs reacts after throwing a pitch that got him ejected from the game against the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field on August 12, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia.

He topped that by the third inning Tuesday. Cueto ended up going four innings and allowing six runs on eight hits.

Batting: The Braves went 7-2 on their just-completed road trip and scored seven or more runs in six of the winsa .

LOUIS -- Jason Heyward hit a two-run homer in the 12th inning and the Atlanta Braves beat St.