Oswalt’s 20th Win Puts Astros in Wild-Card Lead

Roy Oswalt became the National League’s first 20-game winner, and Jeff Kent and Craig Biggio each homered twice, giving the Houston Astros the wild-card lead with a 9-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies Saturday at Houston.

The Astros moved a game ahead of the San Francisco Giants, who lost to the Dodgers. With a victory in today’s regular-season finale or a Giant loss, the Astros will clinch the final playoff spot -- an improbable thought almost a month ago when they were four games below .500 and seven games behind the Chicago Cubs.

Morgan Ensberg and Eric Bruntlett hit home runs to help the Astros set a season high with six homers, extending their franchise-record home winning streak to 17 games.

Kent hit a two-run shot off Adam Bernero in the fifth for his 278th home run as a second baseman, breaking Ryne Sandberg’s major league record.

Oswalt (20-10) gave up only one run and five hits in seven innings. The 27-year-old right-hander posted the eighth 20-win season in club history.

In other games:

Make it 59 years without a World Series appearance by the Chicago Cubs. They were eliminated from playoff contention by their fifth consecutive loss, 8-6 to Atlanta at Wrigley Field.... Ben Sheets (12-14) yielded eight hits and an unearned run and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-1, at St. Louis. The Central Division champions have lost five of six with one game left, and at 104-57 they missed a chance to tie the franchise record of 106 victories set in 1942.... The Florida Marlins beat the Phillies, 4-3, at Philadelphia. The team announced that Manager Jack McKeon, 73, signed a one-year contract extension for next season.... Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati, 3-1, at Cincinnati for its third win in 11 games.... Brad Wilkerson hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning, lifting the Montreal Expos to a 6-3 victory over the New York Mets.... Randy Johnson (16-14) helped himself with a two-run double and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Diego Padres, 7-6, at Phoenix.