St. Louis ? St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa hates to say he’s ever surprised about a player. But in Jason Simontacchi’s case, the word definitely applies.

The 28-year-old rookie won for the third time in four starts and Tino Martinez hit a two-run home run as the Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres 4-1 to complete a three-game sweep Wednesday night.

Cardinals pitcher Jason Simontacchi pitches during the first inning Wednesday against the San Diego Padres at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. St. Louis won 4-1.

“I hate the word surprising because that makes you think you didn’t have any confidence in the guy. He’s been not just a pleasant surprise, a great surprise, a life-saving surprise for us.”

The Cardinals are 17-1 against the Padres the last two seasons, and the latest victory gave them a two-game lead over the Reds in the NL Central. It was their fourth sweep of the year and their second straight over the Padres dating to Sept. 3-5, 2001, in San Diego.

Simontacchi (7-1), who never pitched as high as Triple-A until last year, allowed one run on five hits in 6 2-3 innings and lowered his ERA 18 points to 2.77. Named the NL rookie of the month earlier in the day, he struck out three and walked two.

Simontacchi won with less than his best stuff, for the second straight start.

“Anytime any pitcher can get outs, you’ve got to be satisfied,” he said. “I did struggle a little bit, but I’m learning to deal with it.”

Martinez hit his 10th homer in the fourth after Lawrence hit Albert Pujols with two outs and also doubled and scored for a 3-1 lead in the seventh, giving him eight hits in his last four starts and raising his average to .247. The Cardinals have hit eight homers the last two games and 13 the last five, all after going 41 innings without a long ball.

Phillies 8. Mets 7

Philadelphia Jimmy Rollins’ two-out RBI single in the eighth inning lifted the Philadelphia Phillies to an 8-7 victory over the New York Mets on Wednesday night.

Mike Piazza hit a pair of three-run homers for the Mets, who lost for the fifth time in seven games.

Scott Strickland (6-5) retired the first two batters in the eighth, but left after Ricky Ledee doubled to left-center. Mark Guthrie entered and Rollins lined his first pitch into center, scoring Ledee to give the Phillies an 8-7 lead.

Dan Plesac (2-1) pitched 11â3 hitless innings, and Jose Mesa worked the ninth, striking out Piazza with a runner on first for his 22nd save in 26 chances.

Braves 6, Expos 5

Atlanta Javy Lopez hit an infield single off third baseman Fernando Tatis’ glove to score Vinny Castilla in the ninth inning and give Atlanta a victory over Montreal.

The Braves won their 12th straight series and stretched their lead over second-place Montreal to 91â2 games in the NL East.

With two outs in the ninth, Jim Brower (3-1) hit Castilla with a pitch and gave up a single to Keith Lockhart, moving Castilla to third. Lopez hit a sharp grounder to third that bounced off Tatis and rolled toward the Montreal dugout.

Astros 11, Reds 4

Cincinnati Jeff Bagwell homered twice and drove in five runs, and Craig Biggio added a two-run shot, powering Houston over Cincinnati.

Roy Oswalt (9-5) also had a pair of singles and pitched six innings to stay unbeaten against the Reds.

The Astros had a lot of help as they scored 11 runs for the first time since May 13. The Reds committed three errors, leading to nine unearned runs.

Cubs 6, Marlins 2

Miami Kerry Wood won for only the second time in six starts and Fred McGriff homered for the second straight game as Chicago defeated Florida.

Wood, who went 1-2 with two no-decisions in June, allowed two runs and three hits in six innings to help the Cubs win for the second time in nine games. Wood (8-5) struck out five and also had an RBI single.

Pirates 3, Brewers 1

Pittsburgh Brian Giles hit a two-run homer in the first and Josh Fogg limited Milwaukee to a run over six innings on a steamy night as Pittsburgh beat the Brewers.

The Brewers did little against Fogg (9-6) and relievers Brian Boehringer and Mike Williams, scoring only on Richie Sexson’s run-scoring triple in the sixth his first RBI in 46 at-bats since June 19.

Rockies 14, Giants 4

Denver Larry Walker and Bobby Estallela homered and drove in four runs each as Colorado routed San Francisco. Colorado won for just the second time in nine games and kept the Giants from getting their first three-game sweep at Coors Field.

Colorado scored seven runs in the second off Livan Hernandez (6-10), which came one night after the Giants scored eight in the first in an 18-5 victory. Colorado starter Jason Jennnings (9-4) avoided the first three-game losing streak of his career by allowing four runs and eight hits in six innings.

Dodgers 5, Diamondbacks 3

Phoenix Quinton McCracken hit a two-run triple off Los Angeles closer Eric Gagne in the eighth inning as the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied to defeat the Dodgers 5-3 Wednesday night to avoid a three-game sweep.

The Diamondbacks had only two sacrifice flies in 25 innings in the series until McCracken pulled a pitch into the right-field corner, scoring Junior Spivey and Greg Colbrunn.