That tied the club record for RBIs set by Gil Hodges for Brooklyn on Aug. 31, 1950, against the Boston Braves. It's the first nine-RBI game in the National League since Sammy Sosa of the Cubs did it at Coors Field on Aug. 10, 2002.
Astros 3, Pirates 0
At Pittsburgh, Roy Oswalt picked up a weary bullpen with seven shutout innings and Houston ran its winning streak late this month to nine games, enduring a long rain delay before beating Pittsburgh.
A three-game sweep in Pittsburgh highlighted by a 7-6, 15-inning marathon win on Wednesday night cut Houston's deficit in the NL Central to one-half game behind St. Louis, which lost 9-4 to Milwaukee.
Brewers 9, Cardinals 4
At St. Louis, Jason Marquis got just six outs and St. Louis fell behind by eight runs in the third inning in losing to Milwaukee.
The Cardinals have lost eight of nine and wasted nearly all of what was a seven-game lead with 13 to play. Their lead over Houston, which reeled off nine straight wins, dropped to one-half game.
Bill Hall was 3-for-4 with a two-run homer in the first off Marquis (14-16), who allowed six runs, five hits and two walks in two-plus innings. Marquis is 0-4 with an 8.46 ERA in five starts this month and was booed by the sellout crowd of 40,313 as he left.
Padres 12, Diamondbacks 4
At Phoenix, Jake Peavy won his third straight decision and Brian Giles drove in three runs for San Diego, whose magic number to win the NL West dropped to three.
Peavy (11-14) allowed two runs and five hits in six innings, struck out seven and walked four.
Giles homered and doubled, and Russell Branyan and Rob Bowen also homered for the Padres, who improved to 18-8 this month with their seventh win in eight games.
Nationals 3, Phillies 1
At Washington, Brian Schneider snapped a 1-1 tie with a two-run single in the sixth inning and Washington prevailed in a game that was delayed by rain for 4 1/2 hours.
The loss dropped the Phillies two games behind Los Angeles in the NL wild-card race with only three games to play.
Billy Traber (4-3) earned the win with one inning of scoreless relief, and Jon Rauch pitched a perfect ninth for his second career save.
Reds 5, Marlins 1
At Miami, Kyle Lohse doubled in two runs and gave up three hits over six innings to help Cincinnati keep their slim playoff hopes alive.
Javier Valentin had two hits and an RBI for Cincinnati, which moved within 2 1/2 games of first-place St. Louis in the NL Central.
Mets 7, Braves 4
At Atlanta, Orlando Hernandez matched his season high with nine strikeouts and New York snapped a four-game losing streak on the day they learned Pedro Martinez will miss the postseason because of a torn tendon in his left calf muscle.
Hernandez will now pitch Game 1 of the postseason and Tom Glavine will go in Game 2.
Hernandez (11-11) allowed an unearned run and three hits in five innings. He is 9-7 since the Mets acquired him from Arizona on May 24, and has a 1.69 ERA in his last five starts.
Carlos Delgado drove in four runs and Carlos Beltran hit his 41st homer, tying the Mets record set by Todd Hundley in 1996. New York had lost seven of eight coming in and was outscored 25-1 in the first two games of the series.
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