The St. Louis Cardinals passed up an opportunity to move into a first placed tie in the National League Central Division with the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers as they dropped a 4-2 decision to the Arizona Diamondbacks Friday night in Phoenix.

The Cardinals led 2-1 until the 6 th – thanks in part to Jim Edmonds’ 10 th home run of the season in the 4 th inning. But a two run 6 th for the Snakes put Arizona on top the stay. The Diamondbacks would score an insurance run in the 8 th on a Tony Clark home run.

Brandon Webb (15-10) pitched 6 innings for the win, allowing 2 earned runs on 4 hits. Jose Valverde pitched 1 inning for his 43 rd save. Adam Wainwright (13-10) allowed 3 runs, 2 of them earned, in 6 innings to take the loss.

The Redbirds missed out on a chance to move into a tie with the Cubs and Brewers, both of whom had lost Friday.

St. Louis (69-69) and Arizona (79-63) play again Saturday in Phoenix. Braden Looper (12-10) goes to the mound for the Cardinals against Micah Owings (6-8) for Arizona.