The Dodgers continued to move closer in the wild card race, as their win in San Diego moved them a half-game closer to the idle Carinals. The Dodgers still have work to do though, down three games with six games to play.

The Dodgers now need 9 of 12 outcomes to go their way just to force a tie with St. Louis, and that is without considering the performance of the Brewers. If the Dodgers tie with the Cardinals, a one-game playoff would be held at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, by virtue of the Dodgers winning the season series with St. Louis, 6-5.

Here are the standings:

Here is a recap of the relevant Thursday's game action:

Dodgers 8, Padres 4: An offense that works is a good thing.

Reds 2, Brewers 1: Milwaukee was up one with two outs in the ninth, but Todd Frazier homered off John Axford to tie the game. Jay Bruce singled, then Dioner Navarro - yes, Dioner Navarro - tripled to win the game for Cincinnati.

Giants 7, Diamondbacks 3: Three home runs for San Francisco sent Arizona to the brink of elimination. The Diamondbacks have an elimination number of one; they literally have no more room for error.

Nationals 7, Phillies 3: Gio Gonzalez won his MLB-best 21st game and sent Philadelphia to the same position as Arizona.

Cardinals: idle

The earliest the Dodgers or Brewers could be eliminated is Saturday.

Here is Friday's schedule:

• 5:10 p.m. - Houston (Edgar Gonzalez) at Milwaukee (Yovani Gallardo)
• 4:10 p.m. - Philadelphia (Cliff Lee) at Miami (Mark Buehrle)
• 5:15 p.m. - Washington (Edwin Jackson) at St. Louis (Adam Wainwright)
• 6:40 p.m. - Chicago (Travis Wood) at Arizona (Ian Kennedy)
• 7:10 p.m. - Colorado (Jeff Francis) at Los Angeles (Clayton Kershaw)