The Phillies (84-75) moved two games ahead of the defending World Series champion Marlins for second place in the NL East as both teams finish out their disappointing seasons. The Marlins dominated the series over the last two seasons, winning 14 of 15, before the Phillies snapped a 14-game losing streak at Pro Player Stadium with a three-game sweep in Miami last week.

Todd Jones (11-5) pitched a scoreless seventh inning for the win. Rheal Cormier and Tim Worrell worked the eighth, and Billy Wagner finished for his 21st save.

Dontrelle Willis allowed three runs and nine hits in six innings. He left with a 4-1 lead after allowing a double to Tomas Perez and single to Marlon Byrd to start the seventh.

Jimmy Rollins hit Guillermo Mota's second pitch deep to right-center field for a two-run triple, cutting the deficit to 4-3.

Polanco followed with a tying RBI single off Mota's glove. Polanco stole second, Bobby Abreu walked and both advanced on David Bell's sacrifice bunt. Mota (9-8) struck out Jason Michaels, but Burrell lined a two-run single to center to give the Phillies a 6-4 lead. Mike Lieberthal added an RBI single to make it 7-4.

Phillies starter Gavin Floyd allowed four runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings.

NL WILD-CARD RACE: The Houston Astros have done little wrong in the past month after doing little right for most of the season.

After firing their manager and playing catch-up for the past three months, the Astros began Thursday with an improbable lead in the NL playoff race. Houston, though idle, took a one-game lead over the Chicago Cubs and maintained a half-game lead over the San Francisco Giants, who played late Thursday night.

"We're playing now like we're not going to get beat," new Astros manager Phil Garner said. "When the pressure has been greatest, we've gotten it done."

Such a scenario looked farfetched when Houston dropped from first to fifth in the NL Central and fired manager Jimy Williams during the All-Star break when the team was 44-44. Garner replaced him but made little difference at first, and after a month the Astros had dropped to 56-60.

Then came a four-game winning streak to get the Astros back to .500. By early September, the Astros had won 12 straight to pull even with the Cubs. Now after winning six of their last seven, they're in position to make the postseason.

"We're trying to get our ticket to the dance," said Roger Clemens, who pitched six innings in the Astros' 6-4 win over St. Louis on Wednesday night. "At one point it looked like we weren't invited."

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