The St. Louis Cardinals ended a five-match losing skid with a 3-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds Friday, maintaining a pulse in the National League wild-card race. Rookie pitcher Jaime Garcia (13-6) beat NL Central leader Cincinnati for the fourth time this season. A homer in the third ended Garcia's run of 22 2-3 innings without allowing an earned run. He lasted 6-2/3 innings, while also getting two hits against opposing pitcher Bronson Arroyo (14-9). The Cardinals scored in consecutive innings for the first time in seven games, getting two in the first and one in the second. St. Louis is 11-5 against the Reds this season, but only 32-29 overall against the Central, explaining how its is seven games below Cincinnati. The Cardinals are 5-1/2 games off wild-card holder Philadelphia. Ryan Franklin worked the ninth for his 23rd save. Marlins 6, Braves 1: In Miami, Atlanta's lead in the NL East was sliced to one game after losing to Florida. Logan Morrison hit two RBI triples, after having hit only one in his first 126 at-bats this season. Both came off Atlanta starter Kenshin Kawakami (1-10), who gave up five runs and four walks in three innings. Florida starter Andrew Miller (1-0) worked five innings for his first win in more than a year. The Braves have been alone in first every day since May 31, and extended their lead to seven games at one point, but Friday's loss combined with Philadelphia's win brought it back to a single game. Rockies 4, Padres 3: In San Diego, the hosts tumbled to a season-worst eighth straight loss. The Padres have been outscored 45-19 during their losing streak, which is their longest since 2008. They maintained a 3-game lead in the NL West thanks to San Francisco's loss. Jason Giambi and Troy Tulowitzki hit two-run homers to ruin San Diego starter Cory Luebke's (0-1) big league debut. While Luebke struggled through five innings, Colorado's Aaron Cook (5-8) returned from a monthlong stay on the disabled list and held the Padres to two runs in 6 1-3 innings. Huston Street pitched the ninth for his 14th save. Dodgers 4, Giants 2: In Los Angeles, Chad Billingsley hit a go-ahead two-run single in the fourth inning and limited San Francisco to two hits over eight innings, guiding Los Angeles to victory. Billingsley (11-8) allowed two unearned runs and struck out seven. Billingsley singled off Barry Zito (8-11) in the fourth, putting the Dodgers ahead 4-2. Zito gave up four runs in four innings and lost his fifth consecutive start. He is 0-7 in his past 10 outings and hasn't gotten past the fourth inning in four starts. Phillies 1, Brewers 0: In Philadelphia, Cole Hamels dominated over seven innings to steer Philadelphia past Milwaukee. Diamondbacks 4, Astros 3: In Phoenix, pinch-hitter Augie Ojeda hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to lift Arizona to its eighth win in nine games, beating Houston. Cubs 7, Mets 6: In Chicago, Alfonso Soriano and Blake DeWitt hit three-run homers for Chicago in the win over New York. Pirates 8, Nationals 5: In Pittsburgh, Ryan Doumit had three hits, including a home run, and two RBIs to help Pittsburgh defeat Washington.
