NL roundup: Phillies claim third straight NL East crown

PHILADELPHIA — Kyle Kendrick pitched three scoreless innings in relief of Pedro Martinez and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Houston Astros 10-3 Wednesday night to clinch their third straight NL East crown.

Raul Ibanez hit his career-high 34th homer and Jimmy Rollins had a double and triple for Philadelphia, which is heading to the postseason for a third straight year for the first time since Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton and crew won back-to-back-to-back division titles from 1976-78.

Kendrick (3-1) gave up two hits and struck out four after Martinz lasted just four innings.

MARLINS 5, BRAVES 4: At Atlanta, Ricky Nolasco struck out nine straight Braves and finished with 16 strikeouts — the most by a major league pitcher in more than two years — for Florida. Nolasco's nine consecutive strikeouts in one game were one short of the big league record set by Hall of Famer Tom Seaver for the New York Mets on April 22, 1970. Nolasco (13-9), who struck out 14 of his first 19 batters, lasted 72/3 innings.

NATIONALS 7, METS 4: At Washington, Justin Maxwell's grand slam off All-Star closer Francisco Rodriguez with two outs in the ninth inning gave the Nationals their first win all season when trailing after eight innings.

REDS 6, CARDINALS 1: At Cincinnati, Laynce Nix hit a grand slam off John Smoltz, Bronson Arroyo pitched into the ninth inning and Cincinnati beat St. Louis. Arroyo (15-13) allowed one run and four hits in 81/3 innings.

PIRATES 4, CUBS 0 (1ST GAME); PIRATES 8, CUBS 2 (2ND GAME): At Chicago, Ryan Doumit had four hits and four RBIs to help the Pirates beat the Cubs for a doubleheader sweep. Jeff Karstens (4-5) tossed five innings for the Game 2 victory. In the opener, Charlie Morton (5-9) threw a four-hitter.It was Pittsburgh's first doubleheader sweep at Wrigley Field since June 20, 1983.

ROCKIES 10, BREWERS 6: At Denver, Todd Helton, Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki each hit a two-run homer and Colorado moved closer to clinching a playoff spot. The Rockies extended their NL wild-card lead to four games over Atlanta with four to play. Colorado also is creeping closer to the Dodgers, who now have a 21/2-game lead in the NL West.

GIANTS 4, DIAMONDBACKS 1: At San Francisco, Brad Penny pitched his first complete game in more than four years, Eli Whiteside homered and San Francisco beat Arizona just two hours after the Giants were eliminated from playoff contention. Penny (4-1) allowed six hits to remain unbeaten in four starts this season at AT&T Park since being claimed off waivers from Boston.

PADRES 5, DODGERS 0: At San Diego, Clayton Richard stopped Los Angeles from clinching the NL West title, throwing seven sharp innings to lead the Padres past the Dodgers, who lost their fourth straight and saw their NL West lead trimed to 21/2 games over Colorado.