ST. LOUIS — Brad Lidge looked nothing like an untouchable closer. Somehow, he got the job done.

Shane Victorino's three-run home run capped a four-run eighth inning against a vulnerable St. Louis Cardinals bullpen, and Lidge survived a shaky ninth and preserved the Philadelphia Phillies' 5-4 victory last night.

"They're never easy, you know," Lidge said. "I really didn't feel like it was a bad inning, per se."

Chase Utley added his 28th homer for the Phillies, who have gone deep in 12 straight games and lead the majors with 157 homers.

Troy Glaus homered off the left-field foul pole to start the ninth against Lidge. The Cardinals then loaded the bases with one out. But Lidge wriggled off the hook by striking out rookies Nick Stavinoha and Joe Mather for his 28th save in 28 chances, and 31st in a row dating to Sept. 25, 2007, at Cincinnati.

Chad Durbin (4-2) got the victory despite allowing a run on two hits and a walk in one inning.

In the top of the eighth, Pat Burrell's two-out RBI single tied it at 2 and Maui-born Victorino followed with his 10th homer, both hits coming off Russ Springer.

"You kind of have an idea of what he has by watching video, and I was just trying to hit a ball I could drive," Victorino said. "It was a fastball. That's what I think it was."

Dodgers 9, Diamondbacks 3: Manny Ramirez continued to swing a hot bat in his first series with Los Angeles, going 4-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs as the Dodgers salvaged a split of the four-game series and sliced Arizona's NL West lead to one game. Ramirez is 8-for-13 with five RBIs in three games since Thursday's three-way trade with Boston and Pittsburgh.

Astros 4, Mets 0: Ty Wigginton homered and host Houston completed its first three-game sweep of the Mets since September 1993. Hunter Pence and Humberto Quintero added RBI doubles and Randy Wolf (7-10) won his home debut for the Astros, who've won six of their past seven games.

Rockies 3, Marlins 2: Pinch-hitter Seth Smith drove in the winning run with a single in the ninth inning off Joe Nelson (2-1), lifting Colorado over host Florida. Taylor Buchholz (4-3) pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the win, and closer Brian Fuentes retired Jorge Cantu and Josh Willingham with the bases loaded in the ninth for his 20th save in 24 chances.

Braves 5, Brewers 0: Jorge Campillo (6-4) shut out Milwaukee for seven innings and host Atlanta beat Ben Sheets and the Brewers to avoid a series sweep. Campillo allowed six hits and struck out six. Sheets (10-5) gave up six hits and three runs in six innings.

Nationals 4, Reds 2: Washington completed only its second sweep of the year, jumping ahead with a four-run first inning in a victory over visiting Cincinnati. Rookie Collin Balester (2-3) allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings and Lastings Milledge hit his ninth home run for the Nationals.

Cubs 8, Pirates 5: Reed Johnson and Alfonso Soriano hit back-to-back homers in the eighth as host Chicago beat Pittsburgh. The home runs lifted the Cubs to their seventh win in eight games and capped an afternoon that saw Carlos Zambrano leave after five strong innings because of a high pitch count in his previous two starts.

Padres 4, Giants 1: Greg Maddux drove in a run and earned his 352nd career victory, leading host San Diego over San Francisco. The 42-year-old Maddux (5-8) allowed one run on two hits in six innings and retired the final 10 batters he faced before Mike Adams, Heath Bell and Trevor Hoffman finished the combined four-hitter.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Twins 6, Indians 2: Francisco Liriano threw six scoreless innings in his return to the Minnesota rotation, helping the host Twins move into first in the AL Central with the victory over Cleveland. Denard Span and Brendan Harris homered for Minnesota, which moved a half-game ahead of the White Sox. Chicago lost 14-3 at Kansas City. Liriano (1-3) missed all of last season after Tommy John surgery and went 0-3 with an 11.32 ERA in three starts before being sent down to the minors in April.

Rays 6, Tigers 5, 10 innings: Carl Crawford hit a tying RBI single in the 10th inning and Carlos Pena drew a game-ending, bases-loaded walk off Fernando Rodney (0-3) to give AL East-leading Tampa Bay a victory over Detroit. Trever Miller (1-0) got the final two outs in the 10th for the Rays, completing a three-hitter.

Yankees 14, Angels 9: Xavier Nady homered and had a career-high six RBIs, rallying host New York past sloppy Los Angeles in a wild, back-and-forth game. Mark Teixeira hit a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning for his first home run with Los Angeles, but New York took advantage of uncharacteristically poor defense by the Angels to score six times in the bottom half and complete its largest comeback of the season.

Royals 14, White Sox 3: Mike Aviles went 4-for-4 with a home run, Zack Greinke (9-7) allowed two runs in 6 1/3 innings, and Kansas City defeated visiting Chicago in a game featuring five ejections. There was a bench-clearing brawl in the fifth inning when Royals catcher Miguel Olivo was hit by a pitch from D.J. Carrasco and charged the mound. Olivo, Carrasco, Greinke, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and Royals manager Trey Hilman were ejected.

Red Sox 5, Athletics 2: Jed Lowrie's two-run triple highlighted a three-run fourth inning that helped Daisuke Matsuzaka to his 12th win as Boston completed a three-game sweep over visiting Oakland. Matsuzaka (12-2) allowed two runs, four hits, walked two and struck out eight in six innings.

Mariners 8, Orioles 4: Raul Ibanez's two-run single off reliever Jamie Walker capped a three-run seventh inning as Seattle snapped a seven-game home losing streak by beating Baltimore. J.J. Putz (3-4) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the victory.

Rangers 8, Blue Jays 4: Gerald Laird homered twice and drove in four runs as host Texas beat Toronto. Laird had his third career multihomer game, second this season, with two-run shots in the fourth and fifth innings.