At Denver, Matt Holliday set up Colorado's go-ahead, three-run burst in the eighth inning and Manny Corpas held off Arizona's ninth-inning rally as the Rockies won 4-3 to force the first tiebreaker for a wild card spot since 1999.
Brad Hawpe drove in three runs as the Rockies won their 13th in 14 games. San Diego and Colorado were scheduled to play yesterday at Coors Field for the final playoff spot in the majors. The Padres planned to pitch ace Jake Peavy, while the Rockies planned to start Josh Fogg.
Holliday went 1-for-3 and is hitting a league-leading .340. He leads Atlanta's Chipper Jones by three points for the batting title and will win the crown provided he doesn't go 0-for-5 on Monday.
Phillies 6, Nationals 1
Ryan Howard hit his 47th home run and 44-year-old Jamie Moyer pitched five gutsy innings as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Washington Nationals 6-1 on to end a 14-year playoff drought.
Considered all-but-out of contention just 2.5 weeks ago, Philadelphia overcame a huge deficit in the standings, caught New York and won their first National League East title since 1993.
Marlins 8, Mets 1
At New York, Tom Glavine was tagged for seven runs in the first inning and New York completed its horrendous collapse with a season-ending loss to Florida.
New York's loss coupled with Philadelphia's win over Washington gave the division title to the Phillies and sent the stunned Mets home for the winter.
Brewers 11, Padres 6
At Milwaukee, Brett Tomko had a shaky start as San Diego failed in its second chance to wrap up the NL wild card by losing to Milwaukee.
Milwaukee pushed across two in the fourth, chased Tomko (4-12) during a four-run fifth and added three more in the sixth on a bases-loaded triple by Gabe Gross.
Astros 3, Braves 0
At Houston, Craig Biggio doubled in his first at-bat and scored in the first inning of his final game for Houston in front of a record crowd at Minute Maid Park.
Biggio, who played his entire 20-season career in Houston, became the 27th player to reach 3,000 hits on June 28.
Reds 8, Cubs 4
At Cincinnati, Alfonso Soriano set a Cubs record with his 14th homer last month as the NL Central champions headed into the playoffs following a loss that amounted to a light workout.
After clinching the division title in the series opener, Chicago used the last two games to rest and get ready for the postseason.
Giants 11, Dodgers 2
At Los Angeles, Barry Zito allowed two runs in eight innings and light-hitting Omar Vizquel homered as San Francisco completed its worst season in 11 years by beating Los Angeles.
Zito (11-13) was on his game in the finale, retiring 18 of the first 20 Los Angeles batters.
Cardinals 6, Pirates 5
At Pittsburgh, Skip Schumaker went 5-for-5 and drove in two runs as St. Louis won its fifth in a row by beating last-place Pittsburgh.
The Cardinals tied a major league record held by two other clubs by using 10 pitchers in a nine-inning game.
Alex Rodriguez raised his major league-leading RBIs total to 156 and Jorge Posada took over from Joe Torre as manager for the day as the New York Yankees prepped for the playoffs by beating the Baltimore Orioles 10-4 on Sunday.
As the wild-card Yankees made plans for their postseason opener Thursday at Cleveland, Posada and second baseman Robinson Cano did not play.
Tigers 13, White Sox 3
RSS