NEW YORK – Brad Ausmus led off the 10th inning with his second homer of the season, Darin Erstad connected for his third three batters later and the Houston Astros rallied against the New York Mets’ shaky bullpen for a 6-4 win Sunday.

Hunter Pence added a two-run shot for Houston.

Marlins 5, D-backs 2

PHOENIX – Josh Willingham homered and drove in two runs to back Ricky Nolasco’s outstanding pitching performance, moving Florida within five games of the first-place Mets.

Cardinals 6, Braves 3

ST. LOUIS – Albert Pujols hit a two-run homer, his eighth hit in 10 at-bats, and the Cardinals handed the Braves their 12th loss in 14 games.

Pujols hit his 28th homer in the first, lining a 1-0 fastball down the middle from Jo-Jo Reyes (3-10) into the left field stands. He has 87 RBIs, closing in on his eighth straight 100-RBI season to begin his career.

Cubs 6, Nationals 1

CHICAGO – Rich Harden matched a career-high with 11 strikeouts, Mark DeRosa homered for the fourth straight game and the streaking Cubs took their eighth straight series.

Brewers 4, Pirates 3

MILWAUKEE – J.J. Hardy singled in the winning run on his bobblehead day at Miller Park, and the Brewers earned their 12th straight home win over the Pirates.

CC Sabathia got a no-decision instead of a win for a change, but the Brewers still kept pace in the playoff race with their 23rd win in their last at-bat.

Rockies 4, Reds 3

DENVER – Omar Quintanilla homered with one out in the 12th inning and the Rockies took advantage of five Cincinnati errors for the victory.

Colorado, which stranded 18 runners, tied it in the ninth thanks to two errors and a balk.

Giants 7, Padres 4

SAN FRANCISCO – Kevin Correia pitched six innings to win for only the second time since April, Bengie Molina homered and drove in five runs and the Giants finished a three-game sweep.

Correia (3-7) gave up a homer to Brian Giles on his first pitch of the game but was solid after that, scattering seven hits and striking out four on his 28th birthday.

San Francisco took a 4-3 lead on Randy Winn’s RBI single in the sixth before Molina’s homer off loser Mike Adams (1-3) broke the game open.

Molina finished with three hits and came within a triple of hitting for the cycle for the first time. He also had an RBI double in the fourth and a run-scoring single in the fifth.

Brian Wilson worked a perfect ninth to earn his NL-leading 35th save in 38 chances.