Brewers 5, Astros 3
Ben Sheets once again beat Houston as the Milwaukee Brewers stopped a six-game losing streak on Thursday, beating the National League Central-leading Astros 5-3.
"We didn't want to make it seven," Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said. "Benny came up huge."
The Astros stayed one game ahead of Chicago. St. Louis lost to Colorado 9-4 and remained 2 1/2 games behind Houston.
Houston had won three successive games and six of seven. The Astros finished 7-3 on their 11-day road trip.
"We just have to keep winning series," Houston star Jeff Bagwell said. "If that's not good enough, it wasn't meant to be. But this was a very good road trip."
Sheets (11-12) matched his career high for wins and defeated the Astros for the sixth straight time.
Sheets had lost straight overall, but stopped that skid by allowing three runs and eight hits in eight innings.
Expos 3, Cubs 2
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, Japanese pitcher Tomo Ohka took a two-hit shutout into the ninth inning, and Orlando Cabrera hit two doubles and a triple as Montreal held off Chicago.
The Cubs' two-run rally in the ninth fell short. They stayed one game behind NL Central leader Houston.
The Expos won the series against Chicago 2-1 and finished their 22 "home" games in Hiram Bithorn Stadium with a 13-9 record.
Ohka (9-12) outpitched Mark Prior (15-6), and the Expos' bullpen barely held on.
Rockies 9, Cardinals 4
In St. Louis, Sterling Hitchcock struggled for the first time since joining St. Louis, surrendering four solo home runs in 3 1-3 innings in a loss to Colorado.
Miguel Cairo hit a two-run homer for the Cardinals, who stayed 2 1/2 games behind Houston in the NL Central. St. Louis was due to start a three-game series at Houston yesterday.
The Rockies are an NL-worst 17-33 since the All-Star break and have won only two of their last 11 games.
Reds 3, Pirates 2
In Cincinnati, D'Angelo Jimenez hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning to give Cincinnati a win over Pittsburgh.
Jimenez, acquired by the Reds from the Chicago White Sox in July, followed bunt singles by Ray Olmedo and Tim Hummel with his sixth homer for Cincinnati and 13th this season.
Phillies 8, Braves 3
In Atlanta, Bobby Abreu had three hits and Chase Utley homered -- all in the first three innings -- as Philadelphia denied Greg Maddux his 15th win with a victory over Atlanta.
The Phillies pulled within a half-game of idle Florida in the NL wild-card race. Marlon Byrd finished 3-for-5, and Pat Burrell had two hits and two RBIs.
Brett Myers (14-7) went seven innings, allowing a two-run homer to pinch-hitter Matt Franco in the fifth. Myers won his third straight decision.
Diamondbacks 2, Dodgers 0
In Phoenix, Chris Capuano allowed three hits in seven scoreless innings while starting in place of Curt Schilling as Arizona beat Los Angeles.
The 25-year-old left-hander struck out four, walked none and hit a batter in his fourth major league start. Capuano (2-3) was on the mound because Schilling has a sore neck.
Jose Valverde allowed one hit in the eighth, and Matt Mantei pitched a perfect ninth for his 23rd save as Los Angeles was held to just four hits.
Padres 5, Giants 4, 10 innings
In San Diego, Keith Lockhart's pinch-hit, two-run single with the bases loaded in the 10th inning led San Diego over San Francisco.
Lockhart's hit off Tim Worrell helped the Padres avoid a three-game sweep against the NL West-leading Giants.
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