Rockies continue to own NL Central

DENVER — Colorado took advantage of the late scratch of Chicago starter Carlos Zambrano to score a 6-2 victory over the Cubs on Friday night.

About 15 minutes before the start of the game, Zambrano was scratched because of a recurrence of a lower back injury. The Rockies jumped on emergency fill-in Sean Marshall for three runs in two innings.

Rockies starter Ubaldo Jimenez (9-9) allowed two runs — one earned — and four hits in 62?3 innings for his third consecutive victory.

Chris Iannetta hit a two-run homer in the fourth off Jeff Samardzija, helping the Rockies to their sixth win in eight games and 15th straight against a team from the NL Central.

Zambrano, who was 7-4 with a 3.35 ERA entering the game, worked a season-low three innings in his last start against Florida on Aug. 1, before leaving the game with lower back stiffness. He had worked out with no complaints since then and Cubs manager Lou Piniella said before the game that there were no concerns about Zambrano's back.

However, a team spokesman said Zambrano came off the field shortly before the scheduled start when his back stiffened up again.

MARLINS 3, PHILLIES 2: At Philadelphia, Ricky Nolasco pitched seven sharp innings, and Nick Johnson and Cody Ross hit solo homers for Florida. Coming a sweep by last-place Washington, the Marlins snapped a three-game losing streak and moved within six games of first-place Philadelphia, which has lost six of nine, in the NL East.

CARDINALS 6, PIRATES 4: At Pittsburgh, Ryan Ludwick's sacrifice fly in the eighth inning scored the go-ahead run and St. Louis stretched Pittsburgh's losing streak to six games. Chris Carpenter (11-3) fell behind 4-2 in the third — as many runs as he allowed in his previous four starts combined — before finishing with five shutout innings to improve to 6-0 in his last seven starts. Matt Holliday hit a two-run home run and scored the lead run as the Cardinals won for the seventh time in 10 games.

ASTROS 6, BREWERS 3: At Houston, Jason Michaels homered twice for Houston and Bud Norris struck out seven in six effective innings in his Minute Main Park debut. Norris (2-0), a 24-year-old rookie, allowed two runs and three hits in his second major-league start.

NATIONALS 7, DIAMONDBACKS 6: At Washington, Josh Willingham hit a two-run single in the seventh inning, and Washington won its season-best sixth straight.