Brandon Phillips homered again, hitting a leadoff shot that helped Mike Leake and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs 2-1 Tuesday night and end a three-game losing streak.
Phillips homered for the third time in two games. He has 15 home runs this year.
Leake (12-9) allowed six hits and two walks over eight innings in what is expected to be his final start of the season. The Reds plan to shut him down in an effort to prevent arm problems.
Leake pitched a career-high nine innings in his previous start, giving up three hits against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He took a one-hit shutout into the ninth in that game before giving up Starlin Castro's two-out infield single and pinch-hitter Bryan LaHair's tying home run.
Francisco Cordero pitched the ninth for his 33rd save.
The Cubs saw their three-game winning streak come to an end while wasting a solid pitching performance by Ryan Dempster (10-12). He allowed two runs and six hits, striking out eight in seven innings.
After combining for 27 hits, including seven home runs, and 20 runs in Monday's 12-8 Chicago win, the Reds and Cubs produced a total of 12 hits and three runs with one homer on Tuesday.
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Phillips connected in the bottom of the first for his third home run in four at-bats over the last two games.
The Reds made it 2-0 in the fifth. Devin Mesoraco drew a leadoff walk, Leake grounded into a forceout, Phillips walked and Edgar Renteria hit an RBI single. Renteria had three hits.
Carlos Pena led off the Cubs sixth with a double. He moved to third on LaHair's soft single to left-center field and scored on Alfonso Soriano's double-play grounder.
