The Cardinals closed in on the NL’s second wild-card berth while the Nationals failed to make progress toward the NL East title.
Carlos Beltran homered from both sides of the plate for the ninth time in his career and drove in five runs, leading the Cards over the Nationals 10-4 yesterday in St. Louis.
St. Louis (86-74) took a 7-0 lead by the third inning and reduced its magic number for clinching to two.
Washington (96-63), already assured of the capital’s first postseason baseball since 1933, saw its magic number for clinching the NL East remain at one over second-place Atlanta (93-66).
Beltran hit a pair of two-run homers, connecting right-handed off Ross Detwiler (10-8) in the second and left-handed against Chien-Ming Wang in the fourth. Beltran has four multihomer games this season and 34 in his career. He improved to 32 homers with 97 RBIs in his first season with St. Louis.
Dodgers 7, Rockies 1
In Los Angeles, Josh Beckett earned his first victory in his last five starts as the Dodgers won their fifth straight game to stay in contention for an NL wild-card spot.
Matt Kemp, Luis Cruz and A.J. Ellis each hit two-run homers as the Dodgers remained two games behind St. Louis for the second wild card.
Reds 4, Pirates 3
In Pittsburgh, the Pirates ensured they would finish with a record 20th straight losing season when they blew a ninth-inning lead against Cincinnati.
Pinch-hitter Xavier Paul led off the ninth with a home run off Joel Hanrahan (5-2) and Zack Cozart had a go-head double for the Reds, who clinched home-field advantage in the NL division series. The Reds moved into a tie with Washington for the best record in the league at 96-63.
The Pirates extended their major North American professional sports record for losing seasons. Pittsburgh was 16 games over .500 on Aug. 6, but has lost 18 of 23 to fall to 77-82. The Pirates haven’t had a winning season since topping the NL East in 1992.
Astros 7, Brewers 0
In Milwaukee, Jordan Lyles pitched his first major league shutout and hit his first home run as the Astros eliminated Milwaukee from wild-card playoff contention.
Giants 7, Padres 5
In San Diego, pinch hitter Xavier Nady homered off Huston Street to tie the game with one out in the ninth and Hunter Spence hit a go-ahead, two-run shot for the NL West champs.
The stunning rally got Tim Lincecum off the hook for the loss.He might no longer be a lock for the No. 3 spot in the playoff rotation. Manager Bruce Bochy instead might consider lefty Barry Zito (14-8), who was left off the roster for all three postseason rounds during the team’s improbable 2010 run to the World Series championship.