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 Mets closer Billy Wagner was out because of back spasms, and the Florida Marlins took advantage to rally in the ninth inning, then scored in the 10th on Dan Uggla's RBI double to beat New York 8-7 Thursday night.
The Mets' NL East lead was sliced to 1 1/2 games by second-place Philadelphia, which rallied past Washington 7-6. New York led by seven games on Sept. 12, but has lost six of its past seven.
"Things are not going our way," center fielder Carlos Beltran said. "It seems like every team comes back on us real easy."
The Phillies trailed 6-2 entering the seventh, but Jayson Werth delivered a pinch-hit, three-run homer and Chase Utley's grounder tied it. Jimmy Rollins hit a go-ahead RBI double in the eighth.
"We're here now. How? I don't know," said Rollins, who also scored the tying run in the seventh. "But it's sweet now, and that's all that matters."
In other NL games, it was: San Diego 6, Pittsburgh 3; Atlanta 3, Milwaukee 1; Colorado 9, Los Angeles Dodgers 4; Houston 18, St. Louis 1 and Cincinnati 4, San Francisco 2.
Minus Wagner, New York gave up three runs in the ninth that forced extra innings. Starter Tom Glavine, unbeaten since July 2, failed to hold a 3-0 lead. Right fielder Lastings Milledge was ejected after he flied out in the seventh. Reliever Aaron Heilman was hit by a ball thrown from the stands in the eighth.
"We're in a rut right now," Glavine said. "There are a lot of crazy things happening. We seemed to have a little bit of everything go wrong."
Jorge Sosa (9-8) was charged with the loss.
Taylor Tankersley (6-1) pitched a scoreless 10th for the Marlins, who broke a four-game losing streak.
The visiting Phillies earned their seventh victory in eight games and their 47th come-from-behind victory, the most in the majors.
J.C. Romero (1-2) got the win and Brett Myers worked around a one-out single in the ninth for his 18th save.
Jonathan Albaladejo (1-1), Washington's fourth pitcher, picked up the loss.
Padres 6, Pirates 3
At San Diego, Brett Tomko pitched six solid innings, rookie Kevin Kouzmanoff delivered two more hits and the Padres won their season-high seventh in a row.
The Padres pulled within a half-game of first-place Arizona, which was idle. They remained 2 1/2 games ahead of Philadelphia in the wild-card race.
Tomko (4-11) gave up three runs and five hits in six innings. Trevor Hoffman pitched the ninth for his 40th save in 45 chances.
With Matt Morris (9-11) lasting only four innings, the Pirates lost their sixth straight game.
Braves 3, Brewers 1
Jeff Bennett allowed one run over 5 2-3 innings in his first major league game since 2004, and Atlanta pushed Milwaukee further into second place in the NL Central.
Milwaukee, trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 1982, slipped 1 1/2 games behind the idle Chicago Cubs.
The host Braves won their fifth in a row. Chipper Jones raised his average to .342, passing Colorado's Matt Holliday for the NL lead.
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Bennett (1-0) pitched for the Brewers three years ago. He'd been in the minors ever since, spending part of the time recovering from major elbow surgery.
Rafael Soriano, given a four-game suspension earlier in the day for plunking Florida's Dan Uggla, got his eighth save.
Milwaukee's Jeff Suppan (10-12) had been 2-0 in his previous four starts.
Rockies 9, Dodgers 4
At Denver, Matt Holliday homered again and Troy Tulowitzki also connected as Colorado completed a four-game sweep of Los Angeles.
The Rockies won their fifth in a row and remained 4 1/2 games behind San Diego in the wild-card race. Colorado starts a three-game series at San Diego on Friday night.
Holliday's three-run shot was his fourth in the past three games, and 11th homer in 12 games. He increased his career bests to 36 home runs and 131 RBIs.
Ubaldo Jimenez (4-4) gave up three runs in 6 1-3 innings for Colorado.
Derek Lowe (12-13) allowed six runs in three-plus innings for the Dodgers, who lost their fifth in a row.
Astros 18, Cardinals 1
Rookie J.R. Towles set an Astros record with eight RBIs and Houston reached season highs in runs and hits during its romp at St. Louis.
Towles hit a two-run double off Braden Looper (12-11) in the second inning and a two-run single in the fourth. He added an RBI double in the sixth, a bases-loaded walk in the eighth and his first major league home run in the ninth.
The 23-year-old catcher homered off Aaron Miles, an infielder who was on the mound because the Cardinals were short on pitchers.
Wandy Rodriguez (9-13) went eight innings for Houston.
Reds 4, Giants 2
At San Francisco, Jason Ellison hit his first home run of the season, a solo shot against his former team, and Homer Bailey shut down the Giants in the Reds' victory.
Ellison hit the first pitch from Dan Giese into the left-field seats for his second career pinch-hit homer and first home run since June 18, 2006, against Seattle while with the Giants.
The game was noticeably minus the power of two of the game's greatest sluggers
-- home run king Barry Bonds and his Reds pal, Ken Griffey Jr. Both are injured and Griffey won't play again this season.
Bailey (3-2) allowed one run in 5 2-3 innings. David Weathers worked a perfect ninth for his 32nd save in 38 chances.
Matt Cain (7-16) lost his third straight decision.
[Associated Press]
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