In St. Louis, Scott Spiezio started in place of Albert Pujols and had two RBIs, and Jason Marquis pitched into the eighth inning for his second consecutive strong outing to lead the Cardinals past the Mets 6-3 Thursday.
David Eckstein also drove in two runs and Scott Rolen added a run-scoring single for the Cardinals, who took two of three from Major League Baseball's National League East Division leaders and are 17-5 against them the last four seasons.
Carlos Beltran hit a two-run home run and Jose Valentin had a solo shot for the Mets, who are in a 3-7 slump and have lost their last three series after beginning the season with eight series wins and two splits.
Brewers 5, phillies 4
In Milwaukee, Geoff Jenkins' two-run double capped a four-run seventh inning as the Milwaukee Brewers rallied past Philadelphia 5-4 and completed a three-game sweep of the Phillies.
Jenkins also bailed out the Brewers Wednesday with a two-out RBI single in the ninth that gave Milwaukee its third straight victory in its final at-bat.
Derrick Turnbow, who was taken out of Wednesday's game after giving up three runs in the ninth, pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 13th save in 14 chances.
Braves 9, Marlins 1
In Atlanta, Jeff Francoeur hit two more homers and Jorge Sosa finally earned a win, helping the Braves complete a four-game sweep of the Marlins.
Chipper Jones, who hit a walk-off three-run homer in the 11th inning the previous night, picked up three more RBIs. His two-run single in the fifth gave the Braves a 5-1 lead, then Francoeur and Matt Diaz put it out reach by homering on consecutive pitches.
Francoeur wasn't done. He homered again in the seventh, his 10th of the season.
Reds 9, Pirates 8
In Pittsburgh, Ken Griffey Jr.'s soft line drive single drove in two runs during a four-run Cincinnati seventh inning and the Reds ended a five-game losing streak, rallying from a six-run deficit in the first to beat the Pirates.
Jason LaRue and Austin Kearns homered as the Reds withstood Jason Bay's grand slam in a six-run first against Dave Williams to deny the Pirates their first three-game sweep of any opponent since July 2004. The Reds had been outscored 28-10 during their losing streak and 16-5 in the first two games of the series.
Nationals 5, Cubs 3
In Chicago, Ryan Zimmerman, Damian Jackson and Alfonso Soriano homered off Kerry Wood (0-1), helping Ramon Ortiz get his first win since last September.
Making his first start since last July 20 and first appearance since a relief outing Aug. 29 before season-ending shoulder surgery, Wood lasted five innings in his latest comeback.
He struck out two of the first three batters in an eight-pitch first inning, but then gave up the long ball to the struggling Nationals, who had been shut out in the first two games of the series.
Ortiz (1-4), winless in his first seven starts this season, got his first victory since last Sept. 10 against the Pirates. He yielded eight hits and three runs in 5 1-3 innings. Chad Cordero pitched the ninth for his fourth save in six chances.
Damon Hollins and Russell Branyan homered to back the solid pitching of Mark Hendrickson and the Tampa Bay Devils Rays defeated the Chicago White Sox 5-4.
Hollins' two-run homer off Javier Vazquez (4-3) wiped out a 3-2 deficit in the seventh inning and Carl Crawford's RBI triple off the White Sox right-hander made it 5-3 heading into the eighth -- a troublesome spot for the Devil Rays' bullpen.
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