bottom of the inning with his third home run of the season. NO

MILWAUKEE - Brewers slugger Ryan Braun is showing signs hes shaking off a two-week slump. Fighting a 7-for-43 slide, Braun came through with a game-winning two-run home run in the eighth inning to lift Milwaukee to a 4-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday night. Braun hit the ball hard in two of his first three at-bats Saturday, but still made outs. "My swing has gone between terrible and awful the last two weeks," he said. "But thats the way the game of baseball goes sometimes." With one out in the eighth inning, Scooter Gennett ended up with a double after blooping a ball to centre that Billy Hamilton got his glove on but couldnt hold. Braun then drove the first pitch from reliever J.J. Hoover (1-5) over the right field fence for his 10th homer of the season and first since June 1. Francisco Rodriguez pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his 21st save in 23 opportunities. Will Smith (1-0) got the win despite giving up a game-tying home run to Hamilton in the eighth inning. "We know a lot about Hoover and know he likes to throw the fastball," Braun said. "This is definitely encouraging and hopefully I can build off that and get going." Another encouraging sign for the Brewers was the performance of starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo, who went seven innings, allowing one run on six hits and two walks while striking out eight. It was the second straight strong outing for Gallardo, who struck out a season-high eight and allowed four hits in seven innings of a 1-0 victory over Pittsburgh June 8. "I was able to make pitches tonight and get ahead of hitters," he said. Brewers manager Ron Roenicke likes what hes seeing from Gallardo. "Hes definitely on track," Roenicke said. "His curveball was very good and has been for the past two games. If we can get that from him consistently, thats really good." Gallardo needed to be very good Saturday to offset Reds starter Mat Latos, who threw 87 pitches over six shutout innings in his season debut, giving up two hits while striking out four. He started the season on the disabled list while recovering from elbow and knee surgeries. Latos retired the first four hitters he faced before giving up a single to Aramis Ramirez. He then retired 13 hitters in a row before Gennett outlasted him in a long at-bat with two outs in the sixth inning. Gennett, who several times just got a piece of the ball to stay alive, hit the 13th pitch into left field for a double. Braun then hit a drive to the centre field wall that Hamilton caught, prompting Latos to thrust his fist in the air. Latos said it was emotional to be back on the mound. "It has been a struggle to get where I was today," he said. "It is definitely good. The outcome kind of sucks, but that is baseball. They are in first place for a reason. You just got to come back strong tomorrow." The Reds grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Brandon Phillips RBI single. The Brewers wasted no time in taking the lead after Latos left the game. Logan Ondrusek walked Jonathan Lucroy to start the seventh inning and Carlos Gomez lined a single. Both runners advanced on Ramirezs fly out and Lucroy scored on Khris Davis groundout. Rickie Weeks then singled to left to give the Brewers a 2-1 lead. Hamilton tied the score in the bottom of the inning with his third home run of the season. NOTES: To make room for Latos on the roster, the Reds put LHP Sean Marshall on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right shoulder. ... The Brewers signed the teams top three draft picks from the draft: LHP Kodi Medeiros, SS Jacob Gatewood and OF Monte Harrison. All three were at Miller Park Saturday and took batting practice before the game. ... The Brewers will start RHP Marco Estrada (5-3) in Sundays series finale against the Reds Mike Leake (3-6). 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Howard had 17 points and a career-high-tying 26 rebounds in his Houston debut, James Harden added 21 points and the Rockets cruised to a 96-83 win over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night.CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Al Jefferson said he feels like hes playing the best basketball of his 10-year NBA career. Its tough to argue that point. The 29-year-old Jefferson had a great run five years ago with Minnesota, but that came when the Timberwolves were irrelevant. This year Jefferson is spearheading the Bobcats charge to the playoffs and seemingly getting stronger and more confident with each passing game. "My confidence is up, especially on the defensive end, and Im just playing well," Jefferson said. "In Minnesota we were 20 games under .500 and we were getting ready for the draft. Right now were in a dogfight. I mean its a dogfight man, and it just means a lot more to me." Jefferson had 33 points and 10 rebounds on Friday night, helping the Bobcats beat the New Orleans Pelicans 90-87 for their third straight victory since the All-Star break. Jefferson has scored 29 points or more in eight of his last 11 games and at least 20 points in 17 of the last 19. Bobcats coach Steve Clifford said hes never coached a player who has been on a roll quite like the one Jefferson is on now. "Its unbelievable," Clifford said. "I cant imagine many guys in the league are playing better than him right now." And Jeffersons production might only increase in the coming months. The Bobcats traded for Gary Neal and Luke Ridnour on Thursday, looking to bolster their 3-point shooting. Jefferson said hes excited about the trade. He believes Neal will bring the Bobcats an outside presence, one that may force teams to think twice about how often they double team him in the low post. "Playing against (Neal) in Utah the last few years, I didnt like him -- I didnt like him at all," Jefferson said. "He didnt miss a lot of shots." The Bobcats, currently the seventh seed in the East after Atlanta lost to Detroit, overcame some shoddy free throw shooting Friday night in the final minute to win for the seventh time in the last 10 games. Charlotte had missed four of six free throws in the final minute before Kemba Walker knocked down four foul shots in the final 9 seconds to put the Bobcats up by three. The Pelicans had a chance to send the game to overtime, but Josh McRoberts stripped Brian Roberts of the ball att midcourt and time expired.dddddddddddd Rookie Cody Zeller continues to steadily improve, chipping in with a career-high 13 points for the Bobcats. "Defensively Im starting to see plays before they happen and on offence Im playing with more confidence," said Zeller, the fourth overall pick in the 2013 draft. Roberts had 20 points and Anthony Davis added 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Pelicans (23-31), who have lost four of their last five games. The Bobcats wasted no time exploiting the matchup of Jefferson on Alexis Ajinca, repeatedly dumping the ball in the low post. Jefferson had 14 points in the first quarter. The Pelicans also tried Greg Stiemsma and later Anthony Davis on Jefferson, but nobody had much success stopping him. The trio combined for 13 fouls. Charlotte was 25 of 36 from the foul line; the Pelicans attempted just 11 free throws. "I dont like wearing him down," Pelicans coach Monty Williams said of the decision not to put Davis on Jefferson to start the game. "So, to put him on Al from the jump, I think it wears him out. We did that with Carmelo (Anthony) the last game and he did a good job and he did a good job on Al tonight. "And Al missed some shots. They got 36 free throws and we got 11. So you figure that out." The Bobcats defence, which came in ranked fifth in the league in points allowed, limited the Pelicans to a season-low 32 points in the first half to take an 11-point lead at the break. "We couldnt put the ball in the bucket in the first half," Davis said. "We played great defensively, but its tough to get out of that hole." There was a comical moment in the fourth quarter after an errant pass. A fan retrieved the ball and fired it back to the official on the court just as Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was getting up from his seat on the bench. The ball hit Kidd-Gilchrist in the back of the head, causing him to flinch. NOTES: Clifford said newly acquired Neal and Ridnour will not play until next week as the NBA has yet to approve the deal. Both arrived in Charlotte on Friday and watched the game from behind the team bench. ... Gerald Henderson is one of only eight guards in the NBA that has started every game this season for his team. ' ' '