Philadelphia, PA (My Sportsbook) - Bobby Abreu hit the tie-breaking two-run double in the third inning, and the Philadelphia Phillies held off the Washington Nationals, 4-3, at Citizens Bank Park.

Jimmy Rollins and Kenny Lofton each had two hits and scored twice, while Jon Lieber threw six innings to get his 12th win of the season for the Phillies, who moved into a tie with Houston for the National League wild card lead. The Astros lost to the Chicago Cubs Wednesday night.

Vinny Castilla drove in two runs for the Nationals, who remained a half game out of the wild card spot.

Lieber (12-10) gave up three hits and two runs with a walk and four strikeouts to win his third straight start.

"It's good to be right there," Lieber said about being in the wild card race. "We just want to keep going. There's still a lot of baseball games left."

Billy Wagner recorded two strikeouts in the ninth inning to get his 28th save.

Esteban Loaiza (7-9) took the loss after giving up 10 hits and four runs in 5 2/3 innings to suffer his fourth defeat in five decisions.

The Phillies broke through with two first-inning runs. Rollins and Lofton both singled to start the frame and Chase Utley hit a sacrifice fly to right field. One out later, Pat Burrell doubled to right field for a 2-0 advantage.

Castilla homered to left-center field leading off the third. Cristian Guzman followed with a double and two outs later scored on Jose Vidro's single to center field.

Rollins singled and Lofton doubled to start the bottom of the third. With one out, Abreu doubled high off the wall in left-center field.

Washington put its first two runners on in the seventh, but could only come away with one run. Preston Wilson singled and Brian Schneider doubled. Wilson scored on a sacrifice fly by Castilla, sending Schneider to third. However, Ryan Madson retired pinch-hitter Carlos Baerga on a pop up and pinch-hitter Ryan Church grounded out.

Game Notes

The teams will play a day/night doubleheader on Thursday, stemming from Tuesday's rainout...Of the five teams (HOU, PHI, FLA, NYM, WAS) in the NL wild card race, the Nationals have the most home games left with 25.