Despite the loss, Philadelphia’s magic number for gaining at least a wild-card playoff spot dropped to one with St. Louis’ loss to Pittsburgh. The Phillies are trying to make the playoffs for the fifth straight year.
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 has yielded three earned runs in his last 22 2-3 innings.
Oswalt pitched seven innings and allowed five earned runs.
In Pittsburgh, Pedro Ciriaco hit a tiebreaking double to cap a three-run rally in the eighth inning and Pittsburgh stunned St. Louis, damaging the Cardinals’ playoff chances.
Albert Pujols hit his NL-leading 35th homer and drove in three runs for St. Louis, which had won five in a row to climb back into the wild-card race. The Cardinals remained 4 1/2 games behind Atlanta, but fell 6 1/2 back of first-place Milwaukee in the NL Central.
Ryan Doumit tied it at 4 in the eighth with an RBI double off Marc Rzepczynski (0-2). With the bases loaded and two outs, the little-used Ciriaco hit a two-run double off Fernando Salas .
In Atlanta, Mike Stanton’s pinch-hit single in the 12th inning drove in the go-ahead run and Florida beat slumping Atlanta.
The Braves, coming off a 2-6 road trip, have lost four straight and nine of 12.
Rookie right-hander Anthony Varvaro (0-2) walked John Buck to lead off the 12th. Stanton, held out of the starting lineup due to a strained hamstring, lined a 1-2 pitch from Cristhian Martinez into left field for the tiebreaking hit.
The Marlins have won four straight.
In Los Angeles, Gerardo Parra tied a career high with four RBIs to back seven strong innings by Joe Saunders and Arizona rode a five-run sixth inning to a victory over Los Angeles, reducing its magic number to seven for clinching the NL West title.
Arizona, vying for the fifth division crown in the franchise’s 14-year history, is 17-3 following a season-worst six-game losing streak. The win put the Diamondbacks 24 games over .500, matching their season best.
Saunders (11-12) allowed four hits, struck out four and walked one.
In San Francisco, Carlos Beltran, Cody Ross and Pablo Sandoval homered in a rare show of power by San Francisco at AT&T Park.
Ross also singled, doubled and scored three times to back a solid outing by rookie Eric Surkamp (2-0). He pitched 5 2-3 innings for his second major league victory — both coming against San Diego.
San Francisco, the majors’ lowest-scoring team since the All-Star break, put up eight runs for the second straight game. It’s the first time the Giants have done that in back-to-back games since the first two games of the 2010 World Series.
Beltran went 2 for 4 and drove in two runs, Ross added a pair of RBIs and Sandoval capped the night with a three-run homer in the seventh.
In Cincinnati, Starlin Castro homered, scored four runs and drove in three while extending his career-high hitting streak to 13 games and leading Chicago over Cincinnati in the opener of a four-game series.
Aramis Ramirez also had three hits, including a double and his 25th homer, and Jeff Baker added a home run as the Cubs won their third consecutive game and matched a season high for runs.
Brandon Phillips hit two of Cincinnati’s four home runs and Juan Francisco hit a tape-measure shot, but the Reds couldn’t avoid their third consecutive loss and fourth in five games. Devin Mesoraco added his first career homer.
In New York, Stephen Lombardozzi made his first big league hit and RBI count, driving in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning as Washington beat New York.
Ross Detwiler and R.A. Dickey (8-12) were locked in early, each giving up one hit through four innings that took just 52 minutes. The Nationals took a 1-0 lead in the fifth with help from Mets third baseman David Wright’s fourth error in three games.
Jayson Werth had three hits for Washington.
Todd Coffey (5-1) got one out in the sixth, Tyler Clippard pitched two perfect innings and Drew Storen earned his 35th save in 40 chances.
