Houston ? Lance Berkman hit a pair of two-run homers off Chris Carpenter and the Houston Astros beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-5 Thursday night.

Berkman tied a career high with his 42nd homer in the fifth, then set a new mark with a two-run drive into the Astros’ bullpen in the eighth.

Carpenter (15-7) lost for the first time in nine starts.

Dave Borkowski (2-2) pitched three scoreless innings in relief of Andy Pettitte.

Marlins 5, Mets 2

New York – Pedro Martinez looked more comfortable in his latest playoff tuneup, but he was outpitched by Florida rookie Anibal Sanchez.

Miguel Olivo and Hanley Ramirez each drove in two runs during a four-run fifth against Martinez, and Sanchez (9-3) worked seven strong innings to win for the fifth time in six decisions.

Brewers 9, Giants 4

Milwaukee – San Francisco stumbled again in the NL wild-card race.

Moises Alou homered twice for the Giants, who lost for the fifth time in six games.

Dave Bush (12-11) hit a two-run single and pitched 71â3 solid innings for the Brewers.

Braves 6, Rockies 3

Denver – John Smoltz scattered nine hits over seven innings and Andruw Jones hit a three-run homer to help the Atlanta beat Colorado.

The Braves announced earlier Thursday that they had picked up the team’s $8 million option for next season for Smoltz (14-9).

Dodgers 5, Pirates 2

Los Angeles – Olmedo Saenz hit a two-run homer and the Los Angeles scored the go-ahead run on a bases-loaded walk to beat Pittsburgh, avoiding what would have been a crushing three-game sweep.

The victory gave the Dodgers a half-game lead over idle Philadelphia in the NL wild-card race.

Padres 3, D’backs 1

San Diego – Trevor Hoffman earned his 477th career save to pull within one of tying Lee Smith’s all-time record and Mike Cameron hit a two-run triple for San Diego.