Cards Win, Widen Division Lead

National League

The St. Louis Cardinals finished off a three-game sweep in the N.L. Central’s most important series this season, beating Houston 6-4 at St. Louis Wednesday night to open a 1-1/2-game lead over the Astros.

Andy Benes (16-9) pitched four-hit ball over seven innings for the Cardinals, who won all six home games against Houston and went 11-2 overall against the second-place Astros this season.

Padres 2, Phillies 1 Philadelphia

Tony Gwynn went 4 for 4 and scored both San Diego runs and Scott Sanders pitched eight strong innings as San Diego beat Philadelphia.

Mets 3, Dodgers 2 (12) New York

Alvaro Espinoza slid home ahead of second baseman Delino DeShields’ throw with one out in the 12th inning, giving New York a win.

Los Angeles is off today, and plays Friday night at home in Brett Butler’s return from cancer surgery.

Expos 6, Giants 0 Montreal

Rookie Jose Paniagua allowed two hits over 8-1/2 innings in his sixth major-league start, leading Montreal to its fifth straight win. Paniagua, 23, took a no-hitter into the eighth inning before Rick Wilkins led off with a double.

Pirates 5, Rockies 2 Pittsburgh

Jon Lieber came within one out of his first complete game of the season, and Mark Johnson and Al Martin homered as Pittsburgh trimmed Colorado.

Reds 12, Braves 6 Cincinnati

Tom Glavine endured the worst outing of his career and Atlanta lost its season-high fifth in a row.

Willie Greene drove in five runs as the Reds completed their first three-game sweep of the Braves at Riverfront Stadium since June 26-28, 1992.

Marlins 9, Cubs 2 Miami

Kevin Brown won his fifth straight start to become Florida’s first 15-game winner by defeating Chicago.

Brown (15-10) picked up where he left off in August, when he was named the N.L.’s top pitcher. The right-hander took a two-hit shutout into the ninth before giving up three hits and two runs.

Clearing the bases

The Internal Revenue Service has informed New York Yankees pitcher Dwight Gooden and former New York Mets star Howard Johnson they will not be criminally prosecuted for failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income made at baseball-card shows but that they will have to pay back taxes, fines and penalties. Both owe the IRS back taxes on about $200,000 of income each… . Cubs Ryne Sandberg’s next home run will tie him with Rogers Hornsby for second place (263) in career home runs for second basemen. Joe Morgan is first with 266.