Darin Erstad homered in the bottom of the ninth after closer Jose Valverde blew a one-run lead in the top of the inning as Houston (85-74) won 5-4 on Friday. The celebration was short-lived, however, after Milwaukee beat the NL Central champion Chicago Cubs to grab the wild-card lead and eliminate the Astros, who were 3 1/2 games off the lead coming into Friday's contest.

"It's obviously bittersweet to go from winning to, literally three minutes later, watching Milwaukee pull this out," Erstad said. "We didn't hand it to them. They had to win. This team kept fighting."

Houston went 41-23 after the All-Star break, and has won five of seven since losing five in a row in the wake of the storm earlier this month. The hurricane hit the Texas Gulf Coast and forced the Astros to play two scheduled home games against the Cubs in Milwaukee, where it dropped both to start the skid.

"We ran out of games. That's what it came down to," Friday's starting pitcher Brian Moehler said. "We battled and we made it interesting when people thought we were out of it."

Michael Bourn had three hits and Ty Wigginton homered Friday for Houston, which has won three in a row at home over Atlanta (71-89).

Wigginton is hitting .320 (8-for-25) during a six-game hitting streak.

Brandon Backe (9-13, 5.66 ERA) is expected to take the ball for the Astros after having his spot in the rotation skipped following his most recent outing. He yielded five runs and six hits in 1 2-3 innings of a 14-2 loss at Florida on Sept. 17.

"I feel good," Backe told the Astros' official Web site. "I feel like I can compete and give ourselves a chance. The last game I felt the same way, but it didn't happen."

The right-hander, who has allowed a major league-high 34 home runs, is 2-1 with a 5.40 ERA in three career starts versus Atlanta.

The Braves counter with rookie James Parr (1-0, 4.00), who is coming off the worst outing of his brief career in his third start. The 22-year-old right-hander allowed four runs and four hits in 1 2-3 innings of a 7-6 win over the Mets on Sunday.

Rookie Josh Anderson had three hits and Casey Kotchman drove in two runs for the Braves, who lost on Friday for the second time in six contests. Kelly Johnson went 0-for-2, snapping his 22-game hitting streak.

Atlanta's Chipper Jones was out of the starting lineup for the sixth straight game with soreness in his right shoulder, but drew a walk as a pinch-hitter and expects to play Saturday. With two games remaining, Jones is hitting .365 and is on the verge of winning the NL batting title.