Howard goes deep, Phillies reduce magic number

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-27 15:27

PHILADELPHIA -- Ryan Howard hit his major league-leading 48th homer, Joe Blanton pitched six effective innings and the Philadelphia Phillies moved closer to clinching the National League East title with an 8-4 victory over the Washington Nationals on Friday.

The Phillies' magic number for winning their second straight division championship was reduced to one after the New York Mets lost 6-1 to the Florida Marlins.

Chase Utley had a three-run double and Howard drove in four runs as Philadelphia built a 7-1 lead off Collin Balester (3-7).

The Phillies reached 90 wins for the 12th time in the franchise's 126-year history. They hadn't done it since winning 97 games in 1993.

At New York, Mike Pelfrey lost to Florida for the fourth time this season, putting New York's postseason chances in peril.

Josh Willingham homered and Hanley Ramirez had four hits for the Marlins, who knocked New York out of the playoff race on the final weekend last season.

The Mets, who began the night tied atop the wild-card standings with Milwaukee, fell two games behind first-place Philadelphia, which beat Washington 8-4. They will send ace Johan Santana to the mound Saturday on three days' rest.

Pelfrey (13-11) allowed three runs and eight hits in six innings, falling to 0-4 in five starts against Florida this year.

At Milwaukee, Rickie Weeks hit a three-run homer, Seth McClung pitched four scoreless innings in relief and Milwaukee rallied to beat Chicago for its fifth straight win and the lead in the NL wild-card race.

Weeks, who has been relegated to a bench role but replaced Ray Durham after the sixth, drove reliever Chad Gaudin's pitch deep to left field, flipping his bat as his shot cleared the wall to score McClung and Mike Cameron.

The win eliminated the Astros even though Houston beat Atlanta.

With the game tied at 1 in the sixth, Cubs reliever Sean Marshall (3-5) allowed a leadoff double to Durham and walked Ryan Braun before striking out Prince Fielder. Jeff Samardzija came in and got J.J. Hardy to pop up for the second out, but Corey Hart flared a go-ahead RBI single to left.

At Houston, pinch-hitter Darin Erstad hit a game-ending home run in the ninth inning to lift Houston to a win over Atlanta, but the Astros were still eliminated from playoff contention.

Houston entered 3 1/2 games back of the New York Mets and Milwaukee in the NL wild-card chase and were eliminated when the Brewers beat the Cubs.

Erstad's third career game-winning homer bailed out closer Jose Valverde (6-3), who gave up the tying run in the top of the ninth. Julian Tavarez (1-4) retired Humberto Quintero in the bottom half before Erstad homered to right on the first pitch he saw.

Michael Bourn had three hits and Ty Wigginton homered for Houston.

Josh Anderson had three hits for Atlanta.

At Phoenix, Chad Tracy's pinch-hit double drove in two runs in the eighth inning gave Arizona a victory over Colorado.

Justin Upton drove in three runs with a homer and a triple for the Diamondbacks, who were eliminated from playoff contention with a loss in St. Louis on Thursday. Stephen Drew hit a solo homer for Arizona.

Colorado's Jason Grilli (3-2) retired the first two hitters in the eighth, then Miguel Montero lined a double off the wall in left. Jeff Salazar walked on four pitches to bring up Tracy, who doubled down the right field line.

At San Diego, Ryan Doumit hit a three-run homer and Freddy Sanchez added a solo shot to help Pittsburgh down San Diego and snap a nine-game road losing streak.

Doumit's 15th homer to right off reliever Mike Ekstrom (0-2) broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth.

Sanchez, who had three hits, homered with one out in the first off rookie Josh Geer, who left the game after five innings with tightness in his right elbow.

Ian Snell (7-12) pitched five innings before leaving the game with a cramp in his right calf. He held the Padres without a hit until a solo home run by rookie Nick Hundley with two outs in the fifth that tied the score at 1.

At San Francisco, Bengie Molina was awarded a two-run homer after an instant replay reversal and Dave Roberts singled in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th for San Francisco.

Tyler Walker (5-8) pitched the 10th for the win and Roberts drove in Omar Vizquel with a two-out single in the bottom half against Jason Johnson (1-2).

For just the second time since baseball began using instant replay, an on-field call was overturned. Molina's two-run shot to right, originally ruled a single, tied it at 2 in the bottom of the sixth. Pablo Sandoval's third single of the game in the seventh put San Francisco ahead and pinch-hitter Rich Aurilia added a sacrifice fly in the inning.