San Diego's Brett Tomko delivers against Pittsburgh. The Padres defeated the Pirates, 6-3, on Thursday in San Diego.

Padres 6, Pirates 3

San Diego – Less than a month ago, Brett Tomko was unemployed and working out at a suburban high school, trying to fix his faulty mechanics while hoping someone would sign him.

The San Diego Padres are glad they took a chance on the once-ineffective right-hander, since his two wins in the last week have helped them get right back in the NL West race.

Tomko, a castoff from the rival Los Angeles Dodgers, pitched six solid innings, and rookie Kevin Kouzmanoff delivered two more hits to lead the Padres to their season-high seventh straight victory, 6-3 over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday.

The Padres pulled within a half-game of first-place Arizona, which was idle.

San Diego finishes its regular-season home schedule with three games starting today against the third-place Colorado Rockies, who are five games behind Arizona and 41â2 back in the wild-card race.

If the Padres hold on and claim a playoff spot, Tomko won’t be eligible because he wasn’t signed until Sept. 4, 10 days after he was designated for assignment by the Dodgers.

Reds 4, Giants 2

San Francisco – Pinch-hitter Jason Ellison hit his first home run of the season, a solo shot against his former team.

Braves 3, Brewers 1

Atlanta – Jeff Bennett dealt a blow to his former team’s playoff chances. Making his first major-league start, Bennett allowed only one run in 52â3 innings to lead Atlanta over Milwaukee, keeping the Brewers from moving closer to first in the NL Central.

Milwaukee, trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 1982, slipped to 11â2 games behind the division-leading Cubs, who were idle. The Brewers have nine games left, one fewer than Chicago.

Chipper Jones was 3-of-4 for the Braves, raising his average to .342 and passing Colorado’s Matt Holliday for the NL lead. Holliday went 1-for-4 against Los Angeles, his average slipping to .339.

Marlins 8, Mets 7, 10 inn.

Miami – The New York Mets twice blew a three-run lead, raising speculation they might be about to blow the NL East. Florida rallied in the ninth inning when the Mets did not use closer Billy Wagner, then Dan Uggla hit an RBI double in the 10th that lifted the last-place Marlins over New York.

New York’s lead was reduced to 11â2 games over the second-place Philadelphia Phillies, who rallied past Washington 7-6.

Phillies 7, Nationals 6

Washington – Jimmy Rollins hit a go-ahead RBI double in the eighth inning after Jayson Werth’s pinch-hit homer helped erase a four-run hole.

Rockies 9, Dodgers 4

Denver – Matt Holliday homered again, and Troy Tulowitzki also connected as the Colorado Rockies completed a four-game sweep of Los Angeles.

The Rockies won their fifth in a row and remained 41â2 games behind San Diego in the NL wild-card race. The Padres beat Pittsburgh for their seventh straight victory.

Colorado starts a three-game series at San Diego tonight.

Holliday’s three-run shot was his fourth homer in the last three games, and 11th homer in 12 games. He increased his career bests to 36 home runs and 131 RBIs.

Astros 18, Cardinals 1

St. Louis – Rookie Justin Towles went 4-for-4 with a franchise-record eight RBIs. Towles hit a two-run double off Braden Looper (12-11) in the second to open the scoring. He added a two-run single in the fourth, an RBI double in the sixth and a bases-loaded walk in the eighth before hitting his first career homer in the ninth off Aaron Miles.

Miles, an infielder, was on the mound because the Cardinals were short on pitchers after allowing 10 or more runs for the second time in four games. They also went 10 innings to beat the Phillies 2-1 on Wednesday night.