run homer off former teammate Roy Oswalt and the Houston Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-1 Monday. Despite the loss, Philadelphia's magic number for gaining at least a wild-card playoff spot dropped to one with St. Louis' 6-5 loss to Pittsburgh. The Phillies are trying to make the playoffs for the fifth straight year. They won the World Series in 2008 and lost in it in 2009. Oswalt (7-9), who pitched 10 seasons for the Astros, faced his former teammates for the first time at Minute Maid Park since he was traded to the Phillies in July 2010. Right fielder Hunter Pence, traded by Houston to the Phillies in July, also returned for the first time and got two hits off Brett Myers (5-13). Myers allowed six hits in eight innings. He struck out four and walked one. Myers has allowed three earned runs in his last 22 2/3 innings. Oswalt pitched seven innings, allowed five earned runs, struck out two and walked two. Both Oswalt and Pence received warm ovations on their first plate appearances. J.D. Martinez got three hits and scored three runs for Houston. He opened the fourth inning with a double and scored on a single by Brian Bogusevic. Humberto Quintero's double scored Bogusevic for a 2-1 lead. Martinez singled with two outs in the fourth and scored on Lee's 16th homer into the Crawford boxes in left field for a 4-1 lead. Martinez got his third hit off Oswalt in the seventh. After Oswalt hit Lee with a pitch, he scored on a grounder by Bogusevic. Pirates 6, Cardinals 5: Pedro Ciriaco hit a tiebreaking double to cap a three-run rally in the eighth inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates stunned St. Louis, damaging the Cardinals' playoff chances. Cubs 12, Reds 8: The Chicago Cubs' long night in New York proved to cause no problems in Cincinnati. Starlin Castro homered, scored four runs and drove in three while extending his career-high hitting streak to 13 games and the Cubs shook off their fatigue to pound out a win over the Cincinnati Reds in the opener of a four-game series. Nationals 3, Mets 2: Stephen Lombardozzi made his first big league hit and RBI count, driving in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning as the Washington Nationals beat the New York Mets. Elsewhere it was: Florida 5, Atlanta 4 (12 innings); Arizona 7, LA Dodgers 2; San Francisco 8, San Diego 3.
