St. Louis ? Two fastballs in bad places Wednesday were the difference between a Curt Schilling gem and another late-season disappointment for Arizona.

Schilling, a 23-game winner, struck out 12 and was flawless except for a lone walk in six of his eight innings. But two-out, three-run home runs by Scott Rolen and J.D. Drew gave the St. Louis Cardinals a 6-1 victory and a sweep of the three-game series that is a likely preview of the first round of the playoffs.

“With Schilling pitching, I was worried about a no-hitter,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “He looked like he was going to no-hit us for a while. But we had just two great swings of the bat.”

Garrett Stephenson (2-5) struggled to throw strikes walking five and striking out two, but gave up just one hit.

Schilling (23-7) was making his final start of the regular season. He has 315 strikeouts, second to teammate Randy Johnson’s 326, and just 33 walks.

Schilling was 21-4 on Aug. 21. But during his last seven starts, he is 2-3 and has allowed 28 earned runs in 50 1â3 innings. He gave up a season-worst eight runs in 7 1â3 innings in his previous start, a 9-4 loss at Colorado last Thursday.

“It’s the time of year where you’ve got to pitch well,” Schilling said. “They did, we didn’t.”

Dodgers 3, Rockies 2

Los Angeles Brian Jordan’s two-out single capped a two-run rally in the ninth inning and Los Angeles came back for a crucial win.

With the Dodgers down 3-2, Alex Cora singled off Jose Jimenez (2-10) to start the bottom of the ninth and moved up on Jeff Reboulet’s sacrifice.

Marquis Grissom tied it with a double and after a flyout and an intentional walk to Shawn Green, Jordan singled up the middle.

Giants 6, Padres 0

San Francisco Livan Hernandez (12-16) pitched a two-hitter and Reggie Sanders homered twice, helping streaking San Francisco beat San Diego.

Sanders hit a two-run homer just inside the left-field foul pole in the third against Clay Condrey (1-2).

Braves 7, Phillies 1

Philadelphia Andruw Jones hit three homers, then was left on deck before getting another chance to bat.

Damian Moss (12-6) allowed one run and five hits in 62â3 innings to win for the sixth time in seven decisions.

Phillies rookie Brett Myers (4-5) gave up four runs and six hits in five innings.

Astros 7, Brewers 5

Houston Daryle Ward homered twice and pinch-hitter Morgan Ensberg hit a tiebreaking RBI single to lead Houston back from a four-run deficit.

Nelson Cruz (2-6) went one inning and got the win.

Reds 8, Cubs 2

Chicago Ryan Dempster (10-13) scattered six hits in his eighth complete game.

Matt Clement (12-11) was rocked for a season-high seven runs in three innings, his shortest outing of the year.

Pirates 4, Mets 3

Pittsburgh Aramis Ramirez hit a tiebreaking homer and Pittsburgh held on.

Ramirez, who was in a 3-for-45 slump, hit a 2-1 pitch from reliever Grant Roberts (3-1) into the center field seats in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Marlins 10, Expos 2

Montreal Derek Lee went 3-for-3 and Ramon Castro homered as Florida took advantage of six Montreal errors to beat the Expos.

Montreal’s Vladimir Guerrero went 0-for-2 to remain one homer short of a 40 homer-40 steal season.

Lee’s RBI single in the sixth chased Bartolo Colon (10-4).