CHICAGO — The St. Louis Cardinals were headed for another heartbreaking loss when Carlos Beltran turned it around with one big swing.
When Beltran got back to the dugout, starting pitcher Adam Wainwright showed his appreciation for the timely play.
“I kissed him right on the cheek. I’m not afraid to tell the whole world, either,” Wainwright said. “I wanted to kiss him on the mouth. He saved me, he saved the team today.”
Beltran hit a tying home run in the ninth and Jon Jay doubled in the winning run an inning later as the Cardinals bolstered their bid for another playoff appearance with a 5-4 victory over the ChicagoCubs on Saturday.
St. Louis began the day with a two-game lead over Los Angeles for the second NL wild-card spot. Milwaukee dropped 2 1/2 games off the pace after losing to Washington.
The defending World Series champion Cardinals have 10 games left in the regular season. They bounced back from an 11-inning loss at Wrigley Field the previous day.
After Matt Carpenter and Brian Anderson drew two-out walks from Jaye Chapman (0-1), Jay doubled down the right-field line.
“If we’d have lost that game, I don’t think I’d sleep at all tonight,” Wainwright said.
Mitchell Boggs (4-1) got the last out of the ninth. Jason Motte struck out the side in the 10th for his 39th save.
Beltran connected for his 30th home run, a one-out shot off Carlos Marmol that wrapped just inside theright-field foul pole.
BRAVES 8, PHILLIES 2
Freddie Freeman hit a three-run home run to back Mike Minor and visiting Atlanta roughed up Roy Halladay to move closer to clinching a postseason berth with a victory over Philadelphia.
NATIONALS 10, BREWERS 4
Gio Gonzalez became the majors’ first 20-game winner in 2012, and the first pitcher for a Washington baseball team with 200 strikeouts since Walter Johnson in 1916, taking a shutout into the sixth inning to help the Nationals close in on their first NL East title by beating visiting Milwaukee.
REDS 6, DODGERS 0
Jay Bruce’s 34th home run put host Cincinnati ahead to stay in a NL Central-clinching victory over Los Angeles. Mat Latos (13-4) allowed six hits in eight innings.
METS 4, MARLINS 3
R.A. Dickey earned his 19th victory with a strong performance, Jason Bay and Scott Hairston homered and New York barely held on in the ninth inning for their second consecutive home victory.
ASTROS 4, PIRATES 1
Jason Castro hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning and host Houston beat fading Pittsburgh. Former Arkansas Razorback Dallas Keuchel (3-7) pitched seven strong innings for the victory.
DIAMONDBACKS 8 ROCKIES 7
Aaron Hill tripled and drove in 4 runs, Jason Kubel had 2 hits and 2 RBI and visiting Arizona beat Colorado.
American League ORIOLES 9, RED SOX 6
Jim Thome hit a go-ahead double in the 12th in his first game in nearly two months and visiting Baltimore won in extra innings for the 16th consecutive time.
TIGERS 8, TWINS 0
Miguel Cabrera hit his 42nd home run, putting him in Triple Crown position, and Doug Fister pitched his first career shutout to help host Detroit beat Minnesota.
YANKEES 10, ATHLETICS 9
Raul Ibanez hit his second home run of the game during a dramatic rally in the 13th inning, then host New York won when Ichiro Suzuki scored on first baseman Brandon Moss’ two-out error in the 14th to beat Oakland.
MARINERS 1, RANGERS 0
Michael Saunders hit a home run in the second inning, Blake Beavan threw seven shutout innings against his former club, and host Seattle defeated Texas.
RAYS 11, BLUE JAYS 5
B.J. Upton and Jose Molina hit home runs during a six-run fifth inning and host Tampa Bay beat Toronto.
ROYALS 5, INDIANS 3
Billy Butler hit a run-scoring single in the first inning to reach 100 RBI for the first time and host Kansas City beat Cleveland.
Saturday’s games NATIONAL LEAGUE
Washington 10, Milwaukee 4 St. Louis 5, Chicago Cubs 4, (10) NY Mets 4, Miami 3 Atlanta 8, Philadelphia 2 Cincinnati 6, LA Dodgers 0 Houston 4, Pittsburgh 1 Arizona 8, Colorado 7 San Francisco 8, San Diego 4
AMERICAN LEAGUE
NY Yankees 10, Oakland 9, (14) Baltimore 9, Boston 6, (12) Detroit 8, Minnesota 0 Kansas City 5, Cleveland 3 Tampa Bay 11, Toronto 5 LA Angels 4, Chicago White Sox 2 Seattle 1, Texas 0
Sports, Pages 28 on 09/23/2012