Francisco seals Phillies win

Philadelphia strengthened their grip on the NL East with a hard-fought 4-3 win at the Cubs in a match which ran to 12 innings.

Ben Francisco's home run was decisive and took the Phillies to 62-48 for the season and well placed to reach the play-offs.

Florida remain close on the Phillies' heels after an 11-inning 9-8 victory over Houston at the Astrodome.

Washington's eight-game winning streak was emphatically halted by Atlanta. The Braves opened the series with an 8-1 win with pitcher Tommy Hanson allowing only one run and recording nine strikeouts.

In the Central Division, the Cubs' defeat in Philadelphia was not seized upon by divisional leaders St Louis, who lost 5-4 to Cincinnati after the Cardinals' stand-in pitcher Mitchell Boggs conceded three runs in the first inning.

West Division leaders the Los Angeles Dodgers extended their advantage with a 9-1 success at the San Francisco Giants. Four of the runs came in the fourth inning, Andre Ethier claiming a two-run double with Manny Ramirez and James Loney claiming RBI hits. The win took them to a 69-45 record for the season and well on course for the play-offs.

San Diego, bottom in the West, were 13-6 victors at home to Milwaukee, while Pittsburgh, propping up the Central, triumphed 7-3 at Colorado Rockies. Arizona defeated the New York Mets 6-2 as Max Scherzer finished with eight strikeouts.

In the American League, New York Yankees atoned for Monday's blip by levelling the home series against the Toronto Blue Jays, a win which reasserted their supremacy at the top of the East Division.

The Yankees turned the game around in the eighth inning with back-to-back home runs from Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada to claim a 7-5 victory. Posada's homer was initially disputed but the officials ruled it good after deciding it had not been interfered with by a fan as the ball cleared the right-field wall.

Boston kept the pressure on by going 2-0 up in their series against Detroit with a 7-5 win. Two home runs from Mike Lowell ensured they stayed second behind the Yankees in the East.

Detroit's defeat allowed the Chicago White Sox to gain ground in the Central Division race as Alexei Ramirez's three-run homer in the ninth helped them recover to win 3-1 at Seattle.

Los Angeles Angels remain top dogs in the West after a 6-0 win at home to Tampa Bay. Angels pitcher Ervin Santana kept the Rays at bay as all the hosts' runs came in the fifth and sixth innings.

Cleveland Indians claimed their 10th win in 13 matches with a 5-0 victory at Texas Rangers thanks to some solid pitching from Aaron Laffey and a two-run double from Luis Valbuena, while Baltimore levelled their series against Oakland at 1-1 with a 3-2 victory and Kansas City thrashed Minnesota 14-6.