St. Louis ? Not even Roy Oswalt could put an end to the St. Louis Cardinals’ dominance over the Houston Astros.

Oswalt entered Saturday’s game in St. Louis having won his last six starts, allowing only five runs. But he gave up a three-run homer to Larry Walker and four runs overall in a 4-2 loss to Jason Marquis and the Cardinals.

The loss continued the Astros’ struggles at Busch Stadium. Dating back to Game 1 of last year’s National League championship series, the Cardinals have beaten the Astros nine straight at home. St. Louis has won eight of 10 against Houston overall this year and 28 of 37 against the NL Central.

Houston had won seven of eight coming into this series. But the Astros have dropped the first two games to fall below .500 (44-45) and into third place in the NL Central, 131â2 games back of mighty St. Louis.

“Right before the All-Star break, we played really well and did a good job of getting guys on base,” Morgan Ensberg said. “The last two games, we just have flat out been beat.”

St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said his team was doing all the little things right.

“We play a team game for nine innings,” he said. “It sounds kind of corny, but we keep doing it.”

Even more ominous for the Central Division was the resurgence of Marquis.

Marquis (9-6) had been struggling for the past month. The win was his first in six starts dating to June 10. He allowed two runs on six hits and two walks.

“That might have been his most impressive game,” La Russa said.

Padres 4, Diamondbacks 1

San Diego – Ryan Klesko homered for the second straight night, and Damian Jackson and Khalil Greene also connected to lead San Diego over Arizona. Jackson extended his hitting streak to a career-high 11 games. Leading off the sixth, he drove a 2-0 pitch from Claudio Vargas (3-5) into the balcony on the third level of the Western Metal Supply Co. brick warehouse just beyond the left-field corner to give the Padres a 3-1 lead. It was his fifth this season.

Phillies 10, Marlins 5

Philadelphia – Chase Utley hit a three-run homer, and Jon Lieber earned his first win in seven starts, leading Philadelphia over Florida. Todd Pratt added a solo homer and an RBI single for the Phillies, who have scored 30 runs in the first three games of this series and have won four of six.

Lieber (9-8) allowed four runs and nine hits with no walks and three strikeouts in six innings. He was 0-4 in six starts since beating Texas on June 7.

Nationals 5, Brewers 3

Milwaukee – Jose Guillen’s two-run single in the seventh inning snapped a tie, and Washington beat Milwaukee to end a four-game losing streak.

Jose Vidro homered, and Vinny Castilla added two run-scoring doubles for the Nationals, who won for just the third time in 10 games and remained 11â2 games ahead of Atlanta in the NL East.

Reds 7, Rockies 6

Cincinnati – Wily Mo Pena doubled home the tying run in the eighth inning, and Ray Olmedo followed with a pinch-hit double, rallying Cincinnati past Colorado.

Pirates 3, Cubs 0

Chicago – Zach Duke outpitched Greg Maddux for eight innings, allowing six hits. In his third career start, Duke (2-0) struck out four and extended his scoreless innings streak to 17. The 22-year-old left-hander lowered his earned-run average to 1.23. Jason Bay ended an 0-for-18 slump with a homer as the Pirates snapped the Cubs’ five-game winning streak.

Braves 3, Mets 0

New York – Tim Hudson pitched five-hit ball for six innings and scored a run in his first start in over a month, leading Atlanta over New York. Kelly Johnson had two hits with two RBIs for Atlanta, which has won two straight following a three-game losing streak.

Hudson was activated from the disabled list before the game and was on the mound for the first time since June 13, when he was forced out after 22â3 innings by a strained muscle in his left side.

Dodgers 5, Giants 4

Los Angeles – Jason Phillips hit a two-out, RBI single to cap a two-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting Los Angeles to its first victory in seven games.