ATLANTA — Derek Lowe pitched into the sixth inning before leaving with an injury and David Ross hit a two-run homer, helping the Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants 6-3 on Sunday.
Lowe (11-9) was bothered by cramping in his right hamstring. The right-hander allowed two runs and five hits in 5 1-3 innings.
Four relievers combined to finish up, with Takashi Saito tossing a scoreless ninth for his first save of the season.
Omar Infante hit a solo homer for Atlanta, which won three of four in the series and has won four of five overall. The NL East-leading Braves also improved their major league-best home record to 39-15 and maintained a two-game lead over Philadelphia, which beat the New York Mets 6-5.
Jonathan Sanchez (8-7) pitched four innings for the Giants, yielding four runs and five hits. The left-hander was coming off a strong performance against Colorado, when he threw six effective innings in a 10-0 victory.
Ross hit his first homer of the season in Atlanta’s three-run second and Infante made it 4-1 with a drive to left in the fourth for his third homer.
Alex Gonzalez also drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Melky Cabrera had an RBI single for Atlanta, which finished with 12 hits. Cabrera went 3 for 5.
Juan Uribe hit an RBI double in the second and Travis Ishikawa added his third homer in the seventh for San Francisco.
Atlanta has dropped just one series this year, April 20-22 against Philadelphia, at Turner Field.