St. Louis ? Taking on the best pitchers in the National League is becoming a routine occurrence for Jason Marquis.

Marquis added World Series MVP Josh Beckett to the list of pitchers he has outperformed with a dominant outing Friday night, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Florida Marlins, 6-3.

He faced Randy Johnson and Roy Oswalt in his last two starts but did not get a decision in St. Louis’ two victories.

“I just go out there and try to pitch,” Marquis said. “I can’t worry about who I’m facing. I just try to pitch my game and let my teammates take care of the rest.”

Ray Lankford homered, Hector Luna had two RBI singles and Jim Edmonds doubled twice, drove in a run and scored twice to help the Cardinals win for the fourth time in five games.

Beckett, who shut out the Yankees in Game 6 to clinch the World Series title, gave up six runs on nine hits in six innings. He had allowed only two earned runs in 14 innings in his previous two starts.

“Too many balls right down the middle of the plate,” Beckett said. “You can’t do that. I felt good; I thought I had good stuff.”

The loss dropped Beckett to .500 this season (3-3) and for his career (20-20).

“It was a battle,” Beckett said. “I was lucky I got six innings in. We lost, and that’s the main thing.”

Marquis (2-3) allowed two runs on five hits in 72/3 innings with two strikeouts and two walks. He retired 13 of 14 batters between the second and sixth innings and the Marlins didn’t strand a runner until leaving two on in the seventh.

St. Louis' Jason Marquis delivers against Florida. Marquis was the winning pitcher in the Cardinals' 3-2 victory Friday night in St. Louis.

Marquis had been 0-2 in his previous four starts despite a 2.73 ERA in that span.

Lankford hit his fourth homer, and first in 61 at-bats since April 21, with one out in the first.

“I was thinking I was going to go home and play with the PlayStation and hit one or something, see how it feels,” Lankford said. “It was good to put us on the board early and I think that kind of gave us momentum offensively.”

Florida tied it in the second when Miguel Cabrera hit a leadoff double and scored from third on a delayed double play that ended the inning. But the Cardinals took the lead for good in the bottom half with two runs on four straight inning-opening hits.

Luna, who started at shortstop in place of injured Edgar Renteria, and Mike Matheny each had RBI singles in the inning.

The Cardinals also started fast in a three-run sixth with a walk and two hits, including an RBI double by Edmonds. Marlon Anderson added a sacrifice fly and Luna had his second run-scoring single to make it 6-1.

Pirates 4, Giants 2

San Francisco — Daryle Ward tied it with a two-run homer, then singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning to lead Pittsburgh past San Francisco. Ward connected for his second homer in two days in the seventh following a triple to right by Jack Wilson. In the eighth, Ward lined a single to left off Felix Rodriguez (1-3), scoring Abraham Nunez. Rob Mackowiak homered for the Pirates leading off the ninth. Brian Boehringer (1-1) pitched the seventh for the win, and Jose Mesa worked the ninth for his 10th save in 10 chances. San Francisco played without Barry Bonds after the slugger was removed from the lineup because of back spasms.

Reds 2, Dodgers 1

Los Angeles — Paul Wilson won his fifth straight decision and Cincinnati capitalized on a wild outing by Kazuhisa Ishii to beat Los Angeles. Wilson (5-0) pitched seven innings in his eighth start of the season, allowing a run and five hits with four strikeouts and two walks. It’s the first time in his career that he has won five consecutive decisions. Ishii allowed two runs on one hit and seven walks in four innings

Todd Jones pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Danny Graves got three outs for his major league-leading 15th save in 18 attempts.

Braves 2, Brewers 0

Milwaukee — J.D. Drew and Chipper Jones hit consecutive homers in the eighth inning, sending Horacio Ramirez to his first win of the season. Drew and Jones connected off Luis Vizcaino (0-2), who started the eighth in relief of Victor Santos. Vizcaino retired the first two batters before Drew hit his seventh home run of the season and Jones his fourth.

It was the third day in a row Drew has homered.

Ramirez (1-3), who had lost a career-worst three straight decisions, allowed just five hits in eight innings while striking out five and walking three.

John Smoltz worked a perfect ninth for his sixth save in seven tries.

Cubs 6, Padres 1

San Diego — Sammy Sosa homered to tie Mike Schmidt for ninth place on the career list at 548, and Greg Maddux pitched eight strong innings to lead Chicago over San Diego. Cubs leadoff batter Jose Macias hit a bases-loaded triple into the left-field corner with one out in the ninth. He also tripled in the eighth and scored. Macias and Moises Alou each had three hits.

San Diego’s Ismael Valdez couldn’t have served up a fatter pitch for Sosa, hanging a chest-high curveball opening the fourth that the slugger drove an estimated 417 feet into the first row of seats in center field, where it hit off a fan’s glove and fell back onto the field. It was Sosa’s ninth and gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead.

Corey Patterson also homered to help give Maddux (3-3) his 22nd win in 40 career starts against the Padres.

Maddux held the Padres to five hits and one run, with four strikeouts. He didn’t walk a batter for the third straight start.

Maddux moved past Cy Young and into 15th place on the career list with 2,800 strikeouts. Maddux won four Cy Young Awards, from 1992-95.

Phillies 6, Rockies 4

Denver — Pat Burrell homered and drove in four runs, Bobby Abreu also connected, and Philadelphia beat Colorado. Eric Milton won again and Burrell went 3-for-4 with a walk for the Phillies, who improved to 6-1 on their 10-game road trip.

Helped by three double plays, Milton (4-0) allowed only three runs in six innings despite walking five and yielding seven hits.

After All-Star closer Billy Wagner went on the disabled list earlier in the day, Tim Worrell worked the ninth for his second save. He retired Jeromy Burnitz with runners at the corners to end it.

Vinny Castilla and Burnitz homered for Colorado, which has lost seven of 10. Joe Kennedy (4-1) allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings.

Mets 8, Astros 3

Houston — Cliff Floyd hit a grand slam in the third inning, helping New York defeat Houston for only its second three-game winning streak this season. Mike Piazza hit his seventh homer of the season for New York, which has won eight of 12.

Steve Trachsel (4-3) allowed three runs and five hits in six innings, and Ricky Bottalico and Orber Moreno combined for one-hit relief. Roy Oswalt (2-2) struck out seven in seven innings, giving up five runs and seven hits as Houston lost its third straight. It was the first time in his career he allowed a grand slam. Craig Biggio hit his eighth homer of the season for the Astros.

Floyd’s slam, which put New York ahead 5-1, was the fourth of his career and followed one-out singles by Trachsel, Eric Valent and Kazuo Matsui. Oswalt then retired 13 of his last 17 batters.