PHILADELPHIA (AP) -Daniel Murphy hit a tiebreaking double after Carlos Delgado's second solo homer had tied the game in the eighth and New York beat Philadelphia 6-3 on Wednesday night to reclaim first place in the NL East.
Ryan Howard hit a two-run homer and Jayson Werth homered for the Phillies, who fell a half-game behind the Mets in the division.
One night after New York's bullpen blew a ninth-inning lead for the 10th time this season, the Phillies couldn't protect a one-run lead in the eighth.
With two outs, Delgado tied it at 3 off Rudy Seanez (5-4). After Carlos Beltran reached on an infield single. Brad Lidge, who is 31-for-31 in save chances, came in and intentionally walked Ryan Church after Beltran stole second. Murphy doubled for a 4-3 lead. Brian Schneider followed with a bloop single that drove in two runs.
Brian Stokes (1-0) pitched a scoreless inning for his first win with the Mets.
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Jason Marquis allowed five hits over seven innings and Chicago turned two well-placed bunts into two runs in the seventh inning.
It was Cubs' third three-game sweep of the Pirates this season. Chicago won the season series 14-4, the most victories against Pittsburgh since going 15-7 in 1954.
Chicago, a major league-best 83-50, won its fifth straight and 13th of 16. The Cubs are 33 games over .500 for the first time since they were 98-56 at the end of the 1945 season.
The Pirates lost their season-high seventh straight and 11th in 13.
Zach Duke (4-13), who lost his ninth consecutive decision, took a shutout into the seventh before Reed Johnson beat out a bunt single to third. Mark DeRosa doubled down the left-field line to put runners on second and third.
After Johnson scored on a groundout, Henry Blanco put down a perfectly placed squeeze bunt that stayed fair by inches to score DeRosa standing and make it 2-0.
Marquis (9-7) has won twice in nine starts since June 26. Kerry Wood got his 27th save.
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Jody Gerut singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth and San Diego denied Randy Johnson his 295th career win.
Gerut, who had three hits, singled off Chad Qualls (2-8) and drove in Chase Headley from second to give the Padres a sweep of the three-game series against the NL West leaders.
Arizona has lost four straight and six of seven.
Mike Adams (2-3) pitched one inning for the win and Trevor Hoffman struck out the side for his 27th save.
It was Johnson's second attempt to win No. 295. He went seven innings allowing three runs and five hits with nine strikeouts. He carried a 4-0 lead into the seventh inning.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Tim Redding outpitched Greg Maddux to send Los Angeles to a season-high sixth consecutive loss.
The Dodgers, who have scored 10 runs in the past six games, have lost eight straight road games for the first time since June 2005.
Casey Blake's run-scoring bloop single in the eighth brought the Dodgers within a run, and they loaded the bases with two outs before closer Joel Hanrahan got Matt Kemp to fly out and end the inning before finishing for his sixth save.
Redding (9-8) held the Dodgers in check for six innings, allowing three solo homers among eight hits.
Maddux (6-11) allowed four runs - two earned - and eight hits in 5 1-3 innings.
ATLANTA (AP) - Florida's Josh Johnson threw a four-hitter for the first complete game of his career.
Hanley Ramirez had a two-run single and Dan Uggla hit his 28th homer for the Marlins, who have won three of five.
Johnson (4-0) struck out eight and walked three to improve to 3-0 with a 2.58 ERA in six starts on the road this season.
The right-hander, who returned July 10 for his first start since undergoing elbow ligament replacement surgery last August, previously pitched a career-high 7 2-3 innings on Aug. 28, 2006, against Milwaukee.
Mike Hampton (2-2) allowed eight hits and three runs, walked two and struck out five in eight innings, his longest outing since April 17, 2005, at Philadelphia.
The Braves have lost 13 of 16.
HOUSTON (AP) - Roy Oswalt limited Cincinnati to five hits in seven innings.
Hunter Pence and Ty Wigginton hit two-run homers to help Oswalt beat the Reds for the 22nd time in 23 decisions.
Oswalt (12-9) struck out three and allowed only four baserunners in his last five innings. He has won seven straight decisions over Cincinnati since a 5-4 loss at Great American Ball Park on April 28, 2006. He hasn't lost to the Reds in Houston since 2004.
Pence homered off Josh Fogg (2-7), the Cincinnati starter who has dropped his last five decisions and his last seven against Houston.
Wigginton homered in the seventh against Gary Majewski and has hit eight of his 17 homers this month.
Jose Valverde earned his 34th save for the Astros, who have won nine of 11 meetings with the Reds this season and 13 of the last 15 matchups overall.
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Ryan Ludwick was a triple short of a cycle and had two RBIs to lead St. Louis' comeback from a three-run deficit.
Rebounding from a 12-0 rout Tuesday, the Cardinals scored four runs in the eighth and pulled within 3 1/2 games of Milwaukee for the NL wild-card lead.
The Brewers took the season series 10-5 and had won seven in a row against the Cardinals before Wednesday.
Ludwick hit his 32nd homer off Manny Parra in the sixth.
Albert Pujols doubled off David Riske (1-2) to start the eighth and Ludwick followed with an RBI double. Troy Glaus singled to tie the score and he later scored the go-ahead run when shortstop J.J. Hardy short-hopped a throw to the plate on pinch-hitter Aaron Miles' grounder against a drawn-in infield.
Ryan Franklin (5-5) worked a scoreless eighth and rookie Chris Perez finished for his sixth save.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Bengie Molina and Pablo Sandoval hit back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning and San Francisco avoided a three-game sweep.
After Molina's one-out homer off Livan Hernandez (1-3) tied the game at 1, Sandoval connected for his first major league homer to knock with a drive just inside the left-field foul pole. It was the second time this year San Francisco has hit consecutive homers. Molina and Aaron Rowand did it on May 23 at Florida.
Tim Lincecum (15-3) struck out 10 to boost his majors-leading total to 210. He lowered his ERA from 2.48 to 2.43, tied for best in the big leagues with Cleveland's Cliff Lee. Lincecum won three straight starts for the first time since April and won his fourth consecutive decision, improving to 13-2 in 22 starts following San Francisco losses.
Brian Wilson got four outs for his NL-best 36th save.
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