The San Diego Padres clinched the fourth division title in their 37-year history on Wednesday, beating San Francisco 9-1 to return to the postseason for the first time since being swept by the New York Yankees in the 1998 World Series.
Midseason acquisition Pedro Astacio took a shutout into the seventh inning as the Padres clinched the National League West. Rookie Ben Johnson had three hits, scored twice and had an RBI, and Mark Loretta had three hits and two RBIs.
Trevor Hoffman, the only player who has been with San Diego continuously since 1998, pitched the ninth in a non-save situation. Hoffman earned saves when the Padres clinched in 1996 and '98.
Barry Bonds went 2-for-3, both singles, for the second-place Giants, who were eliminated with the loss.
San Diego's postseason drought included five straight losing seasons from 1999-2003 and an 87-75 finish last year, when the Padres were five games behind the wild-card winning Astros.
Now the Padres (79-79) need to win three of their last four games to finish above .500 for just the 11th time in their history. Since 1969, and excluding strike years, the 1973 New York Mets own the lowest winning percentage of a division champion by going 82-79 (.509) to win the NL East.
Astros 7, Cardinals 6
At St. Louis, -- Morgan Ensberg's tiebreaking double in the ninth inning, his fourth hit of the game, gave Houston the victory that maintained the Astros' 2 1/2-game lead over Philadelphia in the NL wild-card race.
With the score 6-6, Willy Taveras led off the ninth with his major league-leading 69th infield hit. He scored without a play on Ensberg's double into the left-field corner off Jason Isringhausen (1-2).
Houston swept a two-game series against the NL Central champions, finishing the season 5-11 against St. Louis.
Philadelphia beat New York 16-6 on Wednesday.
Lance Berkman and Mike Lamb homered for the Astros (87-71), who are a season-best 16 games above .500. Chad Qualls (6-4) worked a perfect eighth, and Brad Lidge finished for his 40th save.
Phillies 16, Mets 6
At Philadelphia, Chase Utley hit a three-run homer and drove in five runs, and David Bell and Kenny Lofton each had four hits to keep Philadelphia's postseason hopes alive with a win over New York.
The Phillies avoided a three-game sweep and remained 2 1/2 games behind the Astros, who beat St. Louis 7-6.
Jimmy Rollins extended his club-record hitting streak to 33 games with a leadoff single, and Shane Victorino and Pat Burrell each homered during a seven-run eighth inning. Utley drove in two runs in the eighth to give him 101 RBIs, and the Phillies had a season-high 20 hits. David Wright's two-run homer in the seventh off reliever Ryan Madson pulled the Mets within 9-6. Vicente Padilla (9-12) allowed five runs and eight hits in 6 1-3 innings.
Pirates 3, Cubs 2
At Chicago, rookie Nate McLouth homered for the third straight day to lead Pittsburgh past Chicago.
The Cubs finished the season 38-43 at Wrigley Field.
Paul Maholm (3-1), in his sixth major league start, outpitched Mark Prior (11-7), who lost to Pittsburgh for the first time in his career. Maholm gave up two runs and six hits in 6 2-3 innings.
McLouth's fourth homer of the season, a solo shot, gave Pittsburgh a 3-0 lead in the fifth against Prior. Dropping to 6-1 in 11 starts against the Pirates. Prior allowed three runs -- one earned -- and six hits in five innings. Jose Macias hit his first homer of the season for Chicago.
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