The St. Louis Cardinals saw their magic number for elimination reduced to one in the Wild Card and two in the Central Division after the Cardinals wasted a 3-0 lead falling to the Cubs at Wrigley Field 7-3.
The Cards jumped on rookie pitcher Casey Coleman with a sac fly in the second and an RBI double from Albert Pujols in the third and another unearned run that inning to go up on top. However, the Cubs scored four off Chris Carpenter in the third, added another run in the fourth, ending Carpenter’s day with just two earned runs of the five scored and the Cubs tacked on two more in the fifth.
Atlanta beat Washington 5-3 and the Reds lost to San Diego 4-3. The Cardinals are still 6.5 games behind the Reds and the magic number is two wins for the Reds and/or two losses for the Cards. Really the wild card was never an option needing to leapfrog three teams anyway, but the Cards are just one loss and/or Atlanta win from having that option taken away.
Zack Greinke falls to 9-14 on the season as the Royals fall into last place losing to the Cleveland Indians 7-1. Former Missouri Tiger Ian Kinsler and his Texas Rangers teammates clinched their first playoff berth in 11 years by winning the American League West.
