Phillies 9, Cardinals 2
Raul Ibanez's grand slam highlighted a six-run eighth inning and Roy Oswalt tossed seven scoreless frames as the Philadelphia Phillies clinched their fifth consecutive National League East title with a 9-2 home triumph over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday.
Shane Victorino homered and drove in three runs and Jimmy Rollins collected four singles and scored twice for Philadelphia, which aided NL East rival Atlanta by handing the Cardinals just their second loss in 10 games.
St. Louis fell 4 1/2 games behind the Braves in the race for the wild card and 6 1/2 behind the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers, who defeated the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday.
After Victorino and Hunter Pence had RBI singles to give Philadelphia a 5-2 lead in the eighth, Ibanez deposited an Octavio Dotel offering into the seats in right field to send Citizens Bank into a frenzy.
Oswalt (8-9) recorded his first victory over the Cardinals in his last nine career starts by scattering five hits and striking out seven.
Jake Westbrook (12-9) yielded two runs on five hits and issued five walks in 3 1/3 innings to take the loss.