The Philadelpia Phillies took a one-game lead over San Francisco in the National League wild-card race with a 9-3 win over the Giants Tuesday. Roy Oswalt (8-13) pitched seven sharp innings, allowing three runs and striking out seven. Placido Polanco had four hits for Philadelphia, while Pat Burrell homered in his first regular-season game at Citizens Bank Park since 2008. Giants starter Barry Zito (8-7) allowed four runs in five-plus innings. Dodgers 6, Rockies 0: In Los Angeles, the hosts returned from a tough road trip to blank Colorado. Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw (11-7) pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out six. He has not allowed a run against the Rockies in the past 26 innings he's pitched against them at Dodger Stadium. Scott Podsednik and James Loney had two-run doubles during a five-run fifth for the Dodgers, whose road trip had resulted in Jonathan Broxton being removed from the closing role. Los Angeles remains 11 games behind San Diego with 42 remaining. Rockies starter Jhoulys Chacin (5-9) pitched five innings, allowing five runs. Braves 10, Nationals 2: In Atlanta, Diory Hernandez sparked Atlanta with a pinch-hit homer as the Braves downed Washington. Atlanta won for the sixth time in seven games. All-Star Martin Prado returned from the disabled list with three hits and Mike Minor (1-0) claimed his first big league win, although he trailed at the time he left. Hernandez homered off Scott Olsen (3-5), who gave up three runs and three hits in five innings. Padres 1, Cubs 0: In Chicago, Jon Garland pitched seven scoreless innings to steer San Diego to a tight win over Chicago. Garland (12-8) retired the last 12 batters he faced and surpassed his win total from last season. Jerry Hairston Jr. scored the game's only run for NL West-leading San Diego, which won for the eighth time in nine games and moved five games ahead of the second-placed San Francisco. The Padres, who had just three hits in the game, improved to a season-high 24 games over .500 (71-47). Heath Bell pitched a scoreless ninth for his major league-leading 36th save in 39 opportunities, but not before nearly allowing a game-ending two-run home run in the ninth. The Cubs have lost eight of their past nine home games. Starter Randy Wells (5-11) took the loss despite allowing only one run in seven innings. Brewers 3, Cardinals 2: In St. Louis, Dave Bush pitched six stingy innings to bounce back from a start in which allowed four consecutive home runs, as Milwaukee edged St. Louis. St. Louis' Albert Pujols homered for the eighth time in 14 games, leading off the fourth with his 31st of the season and 397th of his career. The Cardinals managed only three more singles against Bush (6-10) and have lost three in a row to NL Central also-rans. Pujols drew his major league-leading 27th intentional walk of the season, and passed Joe Carter for 50th on the career list. Casey McGehee hit a two-run homer for Milwaukee, while rookie reliever John Axford got five outs for his 18th save in 20 chances. Reds 6, Diamondbacks 2: In Phoenix, Paul Janish hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the seventh inning as Cincinnati opened a 12-game road trip with victory over Arizona. Astros 4, Mets 3: In Houston, Hunter Pence had a three-run homer in the first inning and his go-ahead solo shot in the eighth inning gave Houston the win over New York. Marlins 6, Pirates 0: In Pittsburgh, Florida won its first game in five, beating Pittsburgh.
