Orlando Palmeiro began the winning rally with a single off Roberto Hernandez (5-4), then moved to second on a sacrifice by Adam Everett. Ausmus, who drove in the Astros' previous run on a safety squeeze bunt, solidly smacked the first pitch he saw high over the second baseman's head, leaving Beltran to jog after it, knowing the game was lost.
Dan Wheeler (1-2) pitched 1 2-3 scoreless innings for the win -- Houston's fifth straight and 11th in 12 games. The victory also moved the Astros into a tie with Washington (55-47) for the lead in the NL wild card.
Phillies 8, Rockies 5
At Denver, pinch-hitter Tomas Perez drove in the tiebreaking run with a two-out infield single in the ninth inning, and Chase Utley homered and had a career-high five RBIs to help Philadelphia beat Colorado.
Utley went 3-for-5 with his career-best 15th home run and Kenny Lofton scored two runs and drove in two for Phillies, who snapped a three-game losing streak.
Ugueth Urbina (1-0) worked the eighth inning and Billy Wagner pitched the ninth for his 22nd save in 24 chances.
David Bell doubled to left leading off the ninth against Mike DeJean (4-2), and moved to third on Ramon Martinez's sacrifice bunt. After Jimmy Rollins was walked intentionally, Perez hit the ball in the hole between first and second but second baseman Aaron Miles couldn't throw him out.
Central League leader Hanshin Tigers pounded out 11 hits at the Tokyo Dome on Thursday to crush the Yomiuri Giants 9-1.
Akihiro Yano, Tomoaki Kanemoto and Makoto Imaoka each homered off Scott Mullen in the second inning batting spree. Imaoka sparked the rout with a run-scoring single after Yano's solo shot as the Tigers sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning.
Andy Sheets delivered a two-run single before Kanemoto belted a three-run shot and Imaoka homered to the left.
Yuya Ando (5-5) threw a four-hitter and struck out nine without a walk to pick up his career first complete game.
At Jingu Stadium, Alex Ramirez and Norichika Aoki drove in four runs together as Yakult Swallows beat Hiroshima Carp 6-2.
Ramirez hit a two-run bases-loaded single with two out in the fifth and Aoki added a safe margin with his two-run double in the sixth.
Hirotoshi Ishii picked up his 21st save.
Pacific League
Tomochika Tsuboi fired a tie-breaking single, triggering an eight-run offensive in the seventh as the Nippon Ham Fighters overwhelmed the front-running Rakuten Eagles 12-2.
Satoru Kanemura (9-7) scattered nine hits and struck out four with no walks to pick up his first win in a month. Hisashi Iwakuma (7-9) took the loss after giving up eight runs and 13 hits in 6 1/3 innings.
The Yankees' Hideki Matsui played in his 425th consecutive game Thursday, setting a Major League Baseball record for a player at the start of his career.
Matsui, who joined New York in 2003 after playing 10 seasons with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan, broke the record set by Ernie Banks with the Chicago Cubs from 1953-1956, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Matsui went 1-for-4 in the Yankees' 6-3 win over the Minnesota Twins and is hitting .309 with 17 homers and 78 RBIs.
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