The Philadelphia Phillies won their third National League East title in a row after beating the Houston Astros 10-3.

News filtered through of the Braves' defeat just a few minutes before the conclusion of the Phillies' own game.

Earlier, Raul Ibanez had hit his career-best 34th home run and driven in three.

The Braves' 5-4 home defeat hit their wild card ambitions hard to leave them three games behind with four to go.

The play-off-chasing Chicago Cubs were on the wrong end of a 4-0 scoreline in the first of a double-header at home to the Pittsburgh Pirates before going on to lose the second instalment 8-2.

Justin Maxwell's bases-loaded grand slam won it for the Washington Nationals against the visiting New York Mets as they came out on top 7-4.

The Cincinnati Reds were 6-1 winners over Central winners the St Louis Cardinals.

The Los Angeles Dodgers - already guaranteed a play-off berth but yet to win the West title - went down 5-0 at the San Diego Padres.

The Colorado Rockies, second behind the Dodgers, won 10-6 against the visiting Milwaukee Brewers while the San Francisco Giants beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-1.

In the American League, the Detroit Tigers could win the Central division tomorrow after winning the latest of their series with rivals Minnesota 7-2.

Eddie Bonine, Brandon Inge (two-run double) and Ramond Santiago (two-run single) were the heroes as Magglio Ordonez's three-run double opened it up in the fifth inning.

The Kansas City Royals won 4-3 at New York with the Yankees long since having claimed the American League East title.

The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox 5-1 just hours after it emerged their manager Eric Wedge will be allowed to leave but slipped 1-0 in the second game of the night.

The Rays were 5-3 winners over the Baltimore Orioles in Tampa Bay while the Toronto Blue Jays enjoyed a 12-0 rout of the Boston Red Sox.

West division winners the Los Angeles Angels strolled past the Texas Rangers 5-0 while in the same division the Seattle Mariners beat wooden-spooners the Oakland Athletics 7-0.