Houston, TX (Best E Casino) - Ken Griffey Jr. belted a three-run homer to help the Cincinnati Reds to a 9-5 victory and avoid a three-game sweep to the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.

Adam Dunn hit his major league-leading 31st and 32nd home runs en route to a three-hit night for the Reds, who halted a five-game slide. Edwin Encarnacion also homered as the Reds beat the Astros for the first time in nine meetings dating back to last year.

Ty Wigginton smacked a three-run homer and Hunter Pence added a solo shot for the Astros, who fell for the first time in four outings.

Edinson Volquez (13-4) earned the victory after allowing only one earned run in 6 1/3 innings. The 25-year-old surrendered a total of five runs, six hits and one walk, while striking out five.

Wandy Rodriguez (6-4) was seeking his fourth straight winning start, but it didn't work out as he planned as he was tagged for six runs on nine hits and one walk in 4 2/3 frames. The lefty struck out four in the losing effort.

The Reds opened up the scoring with two runs in the second inning and they led the rest of the way. With one out and the bases empty, Dunn slammed his 31st homer of the season. Encarnacion kept it going with a single and raced home when Joey Votto followed with an RBI double to right.

In the fifth, Cincinnati exploded for five runs to take a commanding 7-0 advantage. Volquez and Jay Bruce led off with consecutive singles, and one out later Griffey drove them both in with a homer to right. Then with two outs, Dunn and Encarnacion accounted for the other two runs with back-to-back solo homers.

The Astros finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth courtesy of a leadoff home run by Pence.

The Reds pushed their lead to 8-1 in the seventh via an RBI single by Votto that brought in Brandon Phillips, who reached on a Miguel Tejada error and moved to second on a Dunn base hit.

Houston cut the deficit to 8-5 with four runs on only three hits in the seventh. Pence got it going with a one-out double and raced to third as a Jeff Keppinger throwing error allowed Darin Erstad to reach first. It got worse for the shortstop as Keppinger made another error on the next play, which allowed Pence to score, Erstad to get to second and Humberto Quintero to touch first safely. Pinch-hitter Wigginton then brought in Erstad and Quintero with a homer to left.

In the ninth the Reds capped the scoring when Phillips touched the plate on an RBI single by Paul Bako with two outs.

Game Notes

Wigginton's homer was the Astros' fourth pinch-hit one this season...Griffey extended his hit streak to 12 games with the 608th homer of his career...Cincy's Mike Lincoln pitched two-thirds of a inning and has not allowed a run in 15 straight games and 19 consecutive innings...Before the game, the Astros acquired pitcher LaTroy Hawkins and cash considerations from the New York Yankees for minor league infielder Matt Cusick.