NATIONAL LEAGUE

Cards remain ahead of Brewers in wild-card race

— Kyle Lohse and the short-handed St. Louis Cardinals won for the sixth time in seven games, holding their lead in the NL wildcard race with a 6-3 victory Sunday over the Chicago Cubs.

Minus All-Stars Yadier Molina and Carlos Beltran from the starting lineup, the Cardinals stayed 2 1/2 games ahead of Milwaukee for the second wild-card spot.

Lohse (16-3) made his team-leading 32nd start, giving up 3 runs and 5 hits in 6 innings.

Jason Motte earned his sixth save in the Cardinals’ last seven games, and now has 40 saves this season.

Molina did not play for the defending World Series champions because of lower back spasms, having hurt himself while getting out of the way of a pitch Saturday. The catcher was feeling better, Manager Mike Matheny said, still had some discomfort.

Cubs starter Justin Germano (2-9) worked 5 2/3 innings, giving up four earned runs and 10 hits.

BREWERS 6, NATIONALS 2

Jonathan Lucroy had two RBI singles and visiting Milwaukee beat Washington to keep the Brewers in the playoff chase. Rickie Weeks had three hits while Aramis Ramirez had two doubles for Milwaukee, which twice benefited from Washington outfielders losing fly balls in the sun.

BRAVES 2, PHILLIES 1

Tim Hudson tossed two-hit ball over 7 1/3 innings to help visiting Atlanta move to the brink of a playoff spot with a victory over Philadelphia. Hudson (16-6) struck out four and allowed one unearned run to send the Braves back to Atlanta with a shot at winning an NL wildcard berth. A year after a September collapse, the Braves are again close to a postseason spot. They can clinch during a six-game home stand that opens Tuesday.

PIRATES 8, ASTROS 1

A.J. Burnett (Central Arkansas Christian) allowed one run in eight innings for his 16th victory, and Josh Harrison tied a career high with four hits to jump start visiting Pittsburgh’s offense in a victory over Houston. Burnett (16-8), who allowed four hits and struck out a season-high 11, won for the first time since Aug. 16 to become the first Pittsburgh pitcher to win more than 15 games since 1991. He had started six games with four losses between victories.

METS 3, MARLINS 2

Ruben Tejada singled home the winning run with two outs in the ninth inning for host New York.

DIAMONDBACKS 10, ROCKIES 7

Aaron Hill hit a tie breaking three-run home run in the eighth inning and visiting Arizona handed Colorado its season-high ninth consecutive loss.

PADRES 6, GIANTS 4

Yonder Alonso’s two run single in the seventh inning snapped a tie and helped San Diego beat host San Francisco.

DODGERS 5, REDS 3

Adrian Gonzalez hit two home runs off Homer Bailey on Sunday night, powering Los Angeles past host Cincinnati that let it keep pace in the wild card race.

American League ATHLETICS 5, YANKEES 4

Cliff Pennington hit a go-ahead single in the sixth inning after a key error by backup shortstop Eduardo Nunez and visiting Oakland bounced back to avoid a sweep.

RED SOX 2, ORIOLES 1

Cody Ross doubled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, Andrew Bailey escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth and host Boston ended Baltimore’s six-game winning streak.

ANGELS 4, WHITE SOX 1

Jered Weaver kept host Los Angeles within striking distance in the AL wild-card chase, posting his league-leading 19th victory with a decision over struggling Chicago.

TWINS 10-2, TIGERS 4-1, 10 INNINGS

Jamey Carroll hit an RBI single in the 10th inning and Minnesota beat host Detroit 2-1, winning both games of a doubleheader to prevent the Tigers from at least tying the Chicago White Sox atop the AL Central. In the first game, Joe Mauer drove in four runs to lead the Twins to a 10-4 victory.

INDIANS 15, ROYALS 4

Carlos Santana hit two homers and drove in five runs as Cleveland routed host Kansas City.

RAYS 3, BLUE JAYS 0

B.J. Upton hit his eighth home run in 14 games and Jeremy Hellickson won for the first time in more than a month to help host Tampa Bay beat Toronto.

RANGERS 3, MARINERS 2

Ryan Dempster allowed 2 runs and 6 hits over 6-plus innings and Mike Napoli and Geovany Soto homered to lead Texas over visiting Seattle and preserve a four game lead over Oakland in the AL West.

Sunday’s games NATIONAL LEAGUE NY Mets 3, Miami 2 Atlanta 2, Philadelphia 1 Milwaukee 6, Washington 2 Pittsburgh 8, Houston 1 St. Louis 6, Chicago Cubs 3 Arizona 10, Colorado 7 San Diego 6, San Francisco 4 LA Dodgers 5, Cincinnati 3 AMERICAN LEAGUE Minnesota 10-2, Detroit 4-1 Oakland 5, NY Yankees 4 Boston 2, Baltimore 1 Tampa Bay 3, Toronto 0 Cleveland 15, Kansas City 4 LA Angels 4, Chicago White Sox 1 Texas 3, Seattle 2

Sports, Pages 18 on 09/24/2012

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