Braves close to title, Burnett sounds close to leaving

Atlanta closed in on another division another title, and San Francisco moved close enough to make its next series matter.

But Sunday wasn’t a good day for everyone in the National League. The Marlins are all but out of the race, and A.J. Burnett sounds as if he’s all but out of Florida.

The Braves rallied from a three-run deficit to beat Burnett and the Marlins 5-3, reducing their magic number for clinching a 14th straight division title to two. Atlanta is five games ahead of Philadelphia, and cab wrap up the NL East on Monday night with a victory over Colorado and Philadelphia loss to the New York Mets.

Marcus Giles hit a tying two-run homer, then drove in the go-ahead run with a seventh-inning sacrifice fly to help Atlanta complete a three-game sweep.

“I think if I could pick any time for us to get hot, it’s right now,” Giles said.

Florida has lost nine of 11 and is five games behind Houston in the wild-card race with six to play. No Marlins player seems more frustrated than Burnett, who has lost a career-high six straight decisions and seems ready to leave Miami.

Apparently frustrated by a lack of support from manager Jack McKeon and his coaches, Burnett (12-12) indicated he would not re-sign with the Marlins after this season.

“I’ve got one more start here, and that’s all that matters,” Burnett said. “It’s depressing around here. There’s nothing positive around here. There’s nothing positive on the staff now.”

The Giants were in much better spirits after scoring four times in the ninth in a 6-2 victory at Colorado. They closed within four games of NL West-leading San Diego, and visit the Padres for a four-game series starting Monday night

“We won’t have to look at the scoreboard anymore, and we will have a good series, have some fun and play good baseball,” Giants outfielder Moises Alou said.

In other NL games, it was: Chicago 3, Houston 2; Philadelphia 6, Cincinnati 3; New York 6, Washington 5; St. Louis 2, Milwaukee 0; Los Angeles 9, Pittsburgh 2; Arizona 4, San Diego 3 in 10 innings.

Barry Bonds was hitless at Coors Field in a rare day-game start, but Alou hit two triples, the second driving in two runs in the ninth off Brian Fuentes (2-5). Pinch-hitter Julio Ramirez hit the go-ahead single — his first major league hit since 2002, after Tyler Walker (5-4) pitched the eighth.

Manager Felipe Alou said Bonds should continue to start as long as the Giants are still alive — and Sunday’s victory guaranteed that will be until at least Tuesday.

“It’s going to be tough,” Giants first baseman J.T. Snow said. “Can we do it? Yeah, we can do it. We need to play our best baseball and get some luck and get some things to go our way. You never know. Crazy things have happened.”

There is nothing crazy about Atlanta winning its division. The Marlins got off to a good start against Jorge Sosa on Sunday before five Braves relievers limited Florida to one hit in four innings. Blaine Boyer (4-2) got one out in the seventh for the win and Kyle Farnsworth pitched a perfect ninth for his 10th save in 10 chances with Atlanta.

“They seize any opening and jump on it,” McKeon said.

Cubs 3, Astros 2

At Chicago, Jeromy Burnitz hit a go-ahead, two-run homer off Mike Gallo (0-1) in the seventh inning, Derrek Lee also connected, and the Cubs cut the Astros’ wild-card lead to one game.

Jerome Williams (6-9) won for the first time since Sept. 4, allowing two runs and four hits in seven innings. Ryan Dempster pitched the ninth for his 31st save in 33 chances, retiring pinch-hitter Jeff Bagwell with a runner on to end it.

Phillies 6, Reds 3

At Cincinnati, Jimmy Rollins hit a leadoff home run, extending his hitting streak to 30 games, and fell a double short of the cycle as Philadelphia pulled within a game of Houston.

Chase Utley added his first career inside-the-park homer and Cory Lidle (12-11) turned in his longest outing in seven starts.

Rollins’ 11th home run of the season, off Reds left-hander Randy Keisler (2-1), was his third leadoff shot of the season and 12th of his career.

Diamondbacks 4, Padres 3, 10 innings

At Phoenix, Chad Tracy singled home Andy Green in the 10th inning, and Arizona dropped San Diego (77-78) below .500.

Arizona outhit the Padres 13-2. San Diego didn’t have a hit after Joe Randa’s three-run homer with one out in the fourth.

Jose Valverde (3-4) pitched a perfect 10th for the victory. Akinori Otsuka (2-8) took the loss for the second day in a row.

Mets 6, Nationals 5

At Washington, Mike Piazza hit two of New York’s four homers, and the Mets eliminated the last-place Nationals from playoff contention.

David Wright and Mike Jacobs hit solo homers off Travis Hughes (1-1) in the eighth to help the Mets complete a three-game sweep.

Juan Padilla (2-1) earned the win by going 1 2-3 innings and Aaron Heilman pitched the ninth for his third save.

Cardinals 2, Brewers 0

At Milwaukee, Jeff Suppan (16-10) allowed six hits in eight innings and Jim Edmonds homered to help St. Louis snap a three-game losing streak.

Doug Davis (11-11) fell to 0-4 with a 5.48 ERA against St. Louis this season.

Dodgers 9, Pirates 2

At Los Angeles, Derek Lowe (12-14) pitched six solid innings, pinch-hitter Jason Phillips drove in the go-ahead runs in a six-run sixth, and Los Angeles won for the second time in nine games.