Adam Wainwright allowed a run in seven sharp innings, Juan Encarnacion homered and the St. Louis Cardinals handed the Atlanta Braves their fifth loss in six games, 4-1 on Sunday in St. Louis.
Yadier Molina and So Taguchi each drove in a run in a three-run fifth off Jo-Jo Reyes (0-2) for the Cardinals, who took two of three in the series. The defending World Series champions are one game below .500 for the second time during a 4-2 homestand. The Cardinals have not reached .500 since they were 6-6 on April 16.
St. Louis is now 2 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central.
Mark Teixeira had two hits and Brian McCann had an RBI single in the sixth for the Braves, who began the day a season-worst seven games back in the NL East, and are 0-7 in Reyes' starts. The Braves remained four games behind the San Diego Padres in the wild-card race.
For the second straight day, the Cardinals had a big fifth after four scoreless innings. St. Louis, 12-4 in its last 16 at home, rallied for five runs in the fifth against Tim Hudson on Saturday.
Jason Isringhausen worked a perfect ninth for his 27th save in 29 chances, and fourth during the homestand. It was Isringhausen's 200th career save.
PHILLIES 14, PADRES 2: At Philadelphia, Ryan Howard homered and drove in four runs as the Philadelphia Phillies snapped a four-game losing streak with a rout over the San Diego Padres.
REDS 9, MARLINS 3: At Cincinnati, catcher Ryan Jorgensen's first grand slam helped 29-year-old Tom Shearn win his long-awaited major league debut, and Cincinnati won its sixth straight.
ROCKIES 10, NATIONALS 5: At Denver, Matt Holliday homered, doubled and drove in three runs, and Colorado finished off a sweep of Washington to move back within 3 1/2 games of San Diego in the NL wild-card race. Elmer Dessens (2-1) gave up a run and three hits in six innings for his first Colorado win.
GIANTS 5, BREWERS 4: At San Francisco, Pedro Feliz scored from first base on Rich Aurilia's single to right field in the eighth inning, and San Francisco finished off a three-game sweep of slumping Milwaukee.
DIAMONDBACKS 5, CUBS 4: At Phoenix, Chris Young homered in the first and second innings and drove in four runs as the Diamondbacks took a three-game series between NL division leaders. The Diamondbacks extended their lead to three games over San Diego in the NL West, and improved to a major-league best 29-16 in one-run games.
ASTROS 5, PIRATES 4: At Houston, Ty Wigginton hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning, and Houston rallied to avoid a sweep. Mark McLemore (3-0) went two innings in relief of Wandy Rodriguez, allowing one hit with three strikeouts. Brad Lidge pitched the ninth for his 13th save in 19 tries.
DODGERS 6, METS 2: At New York, David Wells pitched five effective innings in his Dodgers debut and Los Angeles beat the New York Mets to salvage the finale of the three-game series.
American League
TIGERS 5, YANKEES 4: At Detroit, Curtis Granderson led off the first inning with an inside-the-park homer and the Detroit Tigers beat the New York Yankees. The Tigers have won two of three from New York and can win their first series since mid-July with a victory Monday night.
RED SOX 11, WHITE SOX 1: At Chicago, David Ortiz hit a two-run homer, and J.D. Drew and Bobby Kielty ended long homerless droughts to back Julian Tavarez's first win since late June as the Red Sox finished a four-game sweep of the White Sox.
ANGELS 3, BLUE JAYS 1: At Anaheim, Calif., Kelvim Escobar recorded his career-high 15th victory, Garret Anderson homered and the Angels beat the Blue Jays to earn a split of the four-game series.
INDIANS 5, ROYALS 3, 11 INNINGS: At Kansas City, Mo., Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez singled home runs with two out in the 11th inning as the Indians rallied past the Royals.
TWINS 11, ORIOLES 3: At Baltimore, the Twins ended Erik Bedard's nine-game winning streak and completed a season's sweep of the Orioles, getting two triples and two RBIs from Jason Bartlett.
DEVIL RAYS 7, ATHLETICS 4: At St. Petersburg, Fla., Carlos Pena hit two homers, and Joel Guzman had a two-run triple during a three-run fifth inning as the Devil Rays beat All-Star Dan Haren and the Athletics.
RANGERS 5, MARINERS 3: At Arlington, Texas, Sammy Sosa's 605th career home run was his first in a month, and Vicente Padilla allowed only one run pitching into the seventh inning for the Rangers.