PITTSBURGH — Neil Walker had four hits, including his 11th homer, and drove in three runs to Pittsburgh in stopping a three-game losing streak. Pedro Alvarez hit his NL-leading 34th homer for Pittsburgh in 10-1 win over Padres. Jose Tabata added two hits and three RBIs as the Pirates moved a game in front of Cincinnati for the top wild card spot in the NL. Pittsburgh moved within one game of first-place St. Louis in the NL Central. Gerrit Cole (9-7) struck out a career-high 12 while allowing one run and four hits in six innings. Pittsburgh scored four runs total while losing three straight games to the Padres but scored five in the fourth against Ian Kennedy (6-10). Alvarez homered to center with one out to give Pittsburgh the lead. Nationals 3, Marlins 2: Bryce Harper hit a three-run homer to back an effective pitching performance by Gio Gonzalez, and Washington kept alive their slim hope of reaching the playoffs. Despite winning 11 of 13 in a belated run, the Nationals trail Cincinnati by five games for the final NL wild-card slot with nine games remaining. Denard Span went 0 for 4 for Washington, ending his hitting streak at 29 games — one short of the Nationals record. He was bidding to become the 27th player to have a 30-game hitting streak since Joe DiMaggio had his 56-game run in 1941. Rockies 7, Cardinals 6, 15 innings: Corey Dickerson's RBI triple with one out in the bottom of the 15th inning gave Colorado the win. Charlie Blackmon finished with four hits and Troy Tulowitzki and Todd Helton homered for the Rockies in tying the second-longest game in Coors Field history. Matt Holliday had three hits for the Cardinals, who had their NL Central Division lead over Pittsburgh trimmed to one game. Giants 2, Mets 1: San Francisco's Madison Bumgarner struck out 10 in seven innings of four-hit ball to outpitch Jonathon Niese. Juan Perez went 3 for 3 with an RBI and the World Series champions won for the eighth time in 11 games. After taking two of three from the Mets, the Giants don't even have to change hotels — they stay in New York this weekend to play three interleague games at Yankee Stadium. Cubs 5, Brewers 1: Luis Valbuena, Nate Schierholtz and Brian Bogusevic homered, and Chicago stopped a five-game losing streak. Jake Arrieta (3-2) didn't allow a hit until two outs in the fourth when former-Cub Aramis Ramirez singled between second and third. Carlos Gomez hit a solo homer in the seventh. Dodgers 7, Diamondbacks 6: The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the National League West title with a narrow win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday, becoming only the fourth team in MLB history to finish a season in first place after being in last position on July 1 or later. — Agencies
