Andy Pettitte won for the eighth time in his past 10 decisions, leading the Houston Astros over the Milwaukee Brewers 8-3 Sunday in Houston in the finale of a disappointing homestand.
Pettitte (11-9) allowed two runs and four hits in seven innings, improving to 8-2 in his past 12 starts.
Chris Burke hit a three-run homer and doubled twice. Houston, which went 6-7 on the homestand, remained a half-game behind Philadelphia in the NL wild-card race. The Astros have the most home wins in the major leagues, going 42-22 in Houston.
Victor Santos (4-12) gave up seven runs and nine hits in 3 1-3 innings.
MARLINS 7, DODGERS 1: At Miami, Jason Vargas (4-1) pitched a six-hitter for his first major league complete game and hit a two-run single for his first major league RBIs as Florida won for the fourth time in five games.
Vargas struck out seven, tying his season high, and walked one in his fifth major league start.
Derek Lowe (8-12) allowed six runs and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings, and is 0-2 in three starts since beating Pittsburgh on Aug. 5.
NATIONALS 7, METS 4: At New York, Ryan Church doubled and singled in a six-run first inning, and Cristian Guzman doubled twice and drove in two runs for the Nationals, who avoided a three-game sweep
Esteban Loaiza (8-9) was handed a 6-0 lead before he threw a pitch.
Washington got seven straight hits with two outs in the first off Kris Benson (9-5), who managed only two outs in the shortest outing of his seven-year career, allowing eight hits.
Mike Jacobs hit a three-run homer in his first major league at-bat, becoming the fourth Mets player to accomplish the feat. The Mets lost for only fifth time in 19 home games.
REDS 13, DIAMONDBACKS 6: At Cincinnati, Wily Mo Pena hit a pair of three-run homers to set a career high with six RBIs.
Pena and Edwin Encarnacion hit three-run homers off Brad Halsey (8-10) in a seven-run fourth, and Austin Kearns, Felipe Lopez and Sean Casey also homered for Cincinnati.
Eric Milton (7-12) allowed two runs and six hits in six innings.
Halsey (8-10) gave up seven runs and eight hits in four innings, losing his third straight start after going 4-0 in his previous six.
PHILLIES 4, PIRATES 3: At Philadelphia, Bobby Abreu hit a tie-breaking double off Rick White (3-6) in the seventh inning that scored Jason Michaels, who made a crashing, sweeping slide around catcher Ryan Doumit.
Ryan Madson (6-4) struck out two and allowed no hits in 1 2/3 scoreless innings, and Billy Wagner worked the ninth for his 30th save.
GIANTS 4, CARDINALS 2: At St. Louis, Jason Schmidt (10-6) allowed four hits in seven shutout innings to win his third straight decision, and San Francisco capitalized on four errors.
Scott Seabol's bases-empty, two-out error at third base in the fourth led to three runs.
Armando Benitez pitched the ninth and allowed pinch-hitter Albert Pujols' RBI single before striking out So Taguchi with runners on first and second to earn his fifth save, and first since April 23. It was Benitez's second appearance after he missed nearly four months with an injured right hamstring.
Jeff Suppan (12-9) allowed four runs — one earned — and seven hits in six innings.
ROCKIES 9, CUBS 7: At Denver, Matt Holliday and Dustan Mohr hit two-run homers, and Garrett Atkins had three hits, including a solo homer. Pinch-hitter Jorge Piedra added a three-run drive in the eighth.
Sunny Kim (2-2) threw two scoreless innings to earn his first win for Colorado.
Greg Maddux (10-10) allowed six runs and eight hits — including three homers — in six innings and failed to get his 316th win. He lost for the first time in six career decisions at Coors Field.
BRAVES 6, PADRES 2: At Atlanta, the Braves scored five runs in the eighth inning, helped by two San Diego errors, and rallied to beat the Padres and salvage a win in the three-game series.