Phillies Lose, Are Tied With Dodgers

PHILADELPHIA -- The surging Houston Astros have put their vacation plans on hold.

Pinch-hitter Mike Lamb’s infield single drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, lifting the Astros to their sixth consecutive victory, 5-4 over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night.

The Phillies (82-74) dropped into a tie with the Dodgers for the National League wild-card lead. Each team has six games remaining in the regular season -- all on the road.

“We got six games to play and it’s a tie,” Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel said. “We have to keep winning. We didn’t let anything slip away yet.”

The Phillies play three games at Washington and Florida, while the Dodgers have three games in Colorado and San Francisco. If the teams finish tied, a one-game playoff would be played Monday in Philadelphia.

The Astros (78-78) moved within 2 1/2 games of NL Central-leading St. Louis. Houston swept a four-game series against the Cardinals last weekend to cut the gap.

A week ago, the Astros were 8 1/2 games behind the Cardinals. Now, they’re putting pressure on St. Louis, which has lost six games in a row.

Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard had two runs batted in to tie Chuck Klein (1929) for fourth place on the club’s single-season list with 145.

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Roundup

San Diego 6, at St. Louis 5: Mike Piazza’s run-scoring single broke a seventh-inning tie and the Padres won the matchup of division leaders. The San Diego bullpen gave up three hits in 5 2/3 innings to help the Padres win for the 10th time in 13 games. They have a two-game lead in the NL West over the Dodgers with six games to play.

Washington 7, at New York 3: Ryan Zimmerman hit a three-run double for the Nationals and Beltran Perez pitched into the seventh inning in his second major league start.

at Cincinnati 5, Chicago 4: Ken Griffey Jr. moved into 10th place on the career home-run list with a three-run shot, his 563rd homer.

Arizona 7, at San Francisco 1: Conor Jackson hit a three-run homer and Eric Byrnes also connected for the Diamondbacks.