CHICAGO — It was all going so well for St. Louis. Chris Carpenter had a solid 2012 debut and Pete Kozma stole home for the go-ahead run, putting the Cardinals in position to extend their timely winning streak.
Then it all fell apart in a hurry.
Darwin Barney connected for a tying two-run home run off Fernando Salas with two outs in the ninth inning and David DeJesus hit a game-ending single in the 11th to lift the Chicago Cubs to a 5-4 victory on Friday.
DeJesus came to the plate with two out and lined an 0-2 pitch from Joe Kelly (5-6) into right field to score pinch-runner Brett Jackson.
Alberto Cabrera (1-1) struck out two in a scoreless 11th to earn his first career victory.
The Cardinals had won four in arow and entered Friday with a 2 1/2-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers for the second NL wild card.
“We got to a two-run lead with two strikes in the ninth, but wouldn’t finish it off,” Manager Mike Matheny said.
Carpenter threw five innings and was in line for the victory until Barney drove a 1-2 pitch from Salas into the left-field bleachers. Salas allowed a single to DeJesus with two outs and nobody on after getting two strikes on him, too.
“I made the pitches I wanted to make,” Salas said. “It was a fastball in to DeJesus and a soft hit and then Barney was bad luck. He made good contact.”
The Cardinals’ regular closer, Jason Motte, was unavailable after pitching three days in a row and four out of the last five.
“He’s been very, very good for us lately and he’s been in that situation before so it’s a good fit,” Matheny said of Salas. “You can look at a pitch now and say it should have been somewhere else, but it’s easy to do now.”
Carpenter threw 77 pitches, with a light rain falling throughout the game. The 37-year-old allowed 2 runs and 5 hits, struck out 2 and walked 1.
ASTROS 7, PIRATES 1
Jed Lowrie hit a three-run home run and Justin Maxwell and Brett Wallace added home runs to help host Houston defeat Pittsburgh.
BREWERS 4 NATIONALS 2
Ryan Braun and Aramis Ramirez had consecutive RBI hits in the ninth inning off Nationals closer Tyler Clippard and visiting Milwaukee defeated Washington.
DIAMONDBACKS 15, ROCKIES 5
Rookie Wade Miley (16-10) tossed six innings for his 16th victory, Chris Johnson homered among his three hits and drove in three runs, and visiting Arizona beat Colorado.
DODGERS 3, REDS 1
Matt Kemp’s two-out single with the bases loaded in the 10th inning sent visiting Los Angeles to a victory over Cincinnati in the Reds’ first chance to clinch the NL Central.
METS 7, MARLINS 3
Host New York managed to avoid falling into last place in the NL East, beating cellar-dwelling Miami behind a big game by Scott Hairston. Hairston hit a two-run home run and an RBI triple.
PHILLIES 6, BRAVES 2
Kevin Frandsen hit one of Philadelphia’s four home runs to back Kyle Kendrick, and the Phillies inched closer in the NL playoff race with a victory over visiting Atlanta.
American League ORIOLES 4, RED SOX 2
Matt Wieters drove in three runs, Miguel Gonzalez (7-4) pitched 6 1/3 solid innings and visiting Baltimore defeated Boston.
RAYS 12, BLUE JAYS 1
James Shields pitched seven shutout innings and host Tampa Bay routed Toronto. Ben Zobrist and Jose Molina homered in support of Shields (15-9), who limited the Blue Jays to six singles and struck out nine to reach 200 for the second year in a row.
ROYALS 6, INDIANS 3
Luis Mendoza pitched six effective innings and host Kansas City beat Cleveland. Mike Moustakas and Brayan Pena each drove in two runs for the Royals.
YANKEES 2, ATHLETICS 1
Russell Martin led off the bottom of the 10th inning with a home run off Sean Doolittle, and host New York Yankees beat Oakland. Brandon Moss hit a towering home run to right field with one out in the ninth inning off Rafael Soriano to spoil a dominant three-hit outing for CC Sabathia to tie it 1-1.
Friday’s games NATIONAL LEAGUE
Chicago Cubs 5, St. Louis 4 (11) Philadelphia 6, Atlanta 2 Milwaukee 4, Washington 2 LA Dodgers 3, Cincinnati 1, (10) NY Mets 7, Miami 3 Houston 7, Pittsburgh 1 Arizona 15, Colorado 5 San Diego at San Francisco, (n)
AMERICAN LEAGUE
NY Yankees 2, Oakland 1, (10) Minnesota at Detroit, ppd., rain Baltimore 4, Boston 2 Tampa Bay 12, Toronto 1 Kansas City 6, Cleveland 3 Chicago White Sox at LA Angels, (n) Texas at Seattle, (n)
Sports, Pages 25 on 09/22/2012