ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Cardinals roughed up World Series MVP Josh Beckett on and got dominant pitching from Jason Marquis in a 6-3 victory Friday night over the Florida Marlins.
Ray Lankford homered, Hector Luna had two RBI singles and Jim Edmonds doubled twice, drove in a run and scored twice to help the Cardinals win for the fourth time in five games. Beckett (3-3), who shut out the Yankees in Game 6 to clinch the World Series title, gave up six runs on nine hits in six innings.
"Too many balls right down the middle of the plate," Beckett said. "You can't do that. I felt good; I thought I had good stuff."
The loss dropped Beckett to .500 this season (3-3) and for his career (20-20).
"It was a battle," Beckett said. "I was lucky I got six innings in. We lost, and that's the main thing."
Marquis (2-3) allowed two runs on five hits in 7 2/3 innings with two strikeouts and two walks. Jason Isringhausen got his seventh save.
BRAVES 2, BREWERS 0: At Milwaukee, J.D. Drew and Chipper Jones hit consecutive homers in the eighth inning in support of Horacio Ramirez.
Drew and Jones connected off Luis Vizcaino (0-2), who started the eighth in relief of Victor Santos. Drew has homered in three straight games.
Ramirez (1-3) allowed five hits in eight innings while striking out five and walking three. John Smoltz worked the for his sixth save in seven tries.
Santos, making just his third major league start, struck out six and walked two while giving up five hits and no runs in a career-high seven innings.
METS 8, ASTROS 3: At Houston, Cliff Floyd hit a grand slam and Mike Piazza had his seventh homer of the season for New York, which has won eight of 12.
Steve Trachsel (4-3) allowed three runs and five hits in six innings, and Ricky Bottalico and Orber Moreno combined for one-hit relief.
Roy Oswalt (2-2) struck out seven in seven innings, giving up five runs and seven hits as Houston lost its third straight. It was the first time in his career he allowed a grand slam. Craig Biggio hit his eighth homer for the Astros.
PHILLIES 6, ROCKIES 4: At Denver, Pat Burrell homered and drove in four runs, Bobby Abreu also connected and Philadelphia beat struggling Colorado.
Eric Milton won again and Burrell went 3-for-4 with a walk for the Phillies, who improved to 6-1 on their 10-game road trip.
Helped by three double plays, Milton (4-0) allowed only three runs in six innings despite walking five and yielding seven hits.
CUBS 6, PADRES 1: At San Diego, Sammy Sosa homered to tie Mike Schmidt for ninth place on the career list at 548, and Greg Maddux pitched eight strong innings to lead Chicago over San Diego.
Cubs leadoff batter Jose Macias hit a bases-loaded triple into the left-field corner with one out in the ninth. He also tripled in the eighth and scored. Macias and Moises Alou each had three hits.
San Diego's Ismael Valdez couldn't have served up a fatter pitch for Sosa, hanging a chest-high curveball opening the fourth that the slugger drove an estimated 417 feet into the first row of seats in center field, where it hit off a fan's glove and fell back onto the field. It was Sosa's ninth and gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead.
Corey Patterson also homered to help give Maddux (3-3) his 22nd win in 40 career starts against the Padres.