The Grand Slam: Dan Uggla's ninth-inning grand slam caps wild Braves win over Phils

The Atlanta Braves entered the top of the eighth inning Monday night against the Philadelphia Phillies ahead 2-1. Two innings and fIve homers later, the Braves left the field with a wild 9-6 win, sealed by a grand slam from Dan Uggla.

The Braves hit three homers in the top of the eighth, one each from Evan Gattis (who had a two-run homer earlier in the game too), Andrelton Simmons and Uggla. That gave Atlanta a 5-1 lead that the Phillies quickly erased with a two-run Marlon Byrd single and a three-run Domonic Brown homer in the bottom half of the inning.

With Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon unavailable after pitching three straight games, the team turned to Jake Diekman to protect their 6-5 lead in the ninth, but given the pace of things, that wasn't going to happen. With the bases loaded, Diekman managed to strike out Gattis. Phew.

Oh, not so fast, Philly. Uggla smashed a second pitch-slider over the wall to make the score 9-6. Uggla, who was hitting .195 with 12 strikeouts coming into Monday, told the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

Early on, pitching was the story for the Braves. Ervin Santana, making his second start for his new team, struck out 11 in six innings, surrendering just four hits.

RED-PIRATES SLUGFEST STUCK IN RAIN DELAY: The only place where the balls were flying out of the yard better than the Braves game was Cincinnati, where the Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates were playing a soggy game that included 10 home runs after six innings.

We don't have a winner, however, because the game is on hold until Tuesday. The game was suspended because of wet weather and will continue in the top of the seventh inning. The part of the game that was played, however, was something else. (Because of the homers, and the "ground-face double" in the game).

The Reds would jump ahead in this slugfest and the Pirates would homer the very next inning. Gaby Sanchez and Neil Walker twice hit back-to-back homers for the Pirates, with Starling Marte and Travis Snider also going back-to-back. On the Reds side, Joey Votto, Todd Frazier, Ryan Ludwick and Devin Mesoraco all went deep. When the game was suspended, the two teams were tied 7-7.

Makes you wonder how many dingers the teams will have in them when they start up again Tuesday. With the score tied, someone could use a homer.

CARDINALS SNAP BREWERS WINNING STREAK: Nine games later, the Milwaukee Brewers' early-season winning streak ran into a wall. The St. Louis Cardinals came to town, and Lance Lynn silenced the Brewers' bats and snapped the streak in a 4-0 Cards win. Lynn struck out 11 in seven innings, allowing just three hits. St. Louis got a pair of homers, from John Jay and Jhonny Peralta, to pad the scoreboard.

Don't jump off the Brewers bandwagon just yet, though. They still haven't lost a game on the road, plus have a league-best 10-3 record and +28 run differential.

BRYCE HARPER LEAVES NATS WIN WITH INJURY, BUT SAYS HE'S OK: The Washington Nationals soundly beat the Miami Marlins on Monday 9-2, pounding out 16 hits while giving the Marlins their eighth straight loss. Three of those hits belonged to Bryce Harper, who is hitting .520 over his past seven games. Harper, however, took a spill running the bases and was taken out of the game as a precaution. He says he's been nursing a sore thigh, but plans to play Tuesday.

For the rest of Monday's MLB scores, check out our scoreboard.

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Mike Oz

is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz