CHICAGO (AP) — Miles Mikolas outpitched Cole Hamels with eight sparkling innings, and the St. Louis Cardinals stayed alive in the playoff race by topping the Chicago Cubs 2-1 on Saturday.
The Cardinals needed a win plus a loss by Los Angeles at San Francisco to stay in the running for a wild card. The Cubs — already assured a franchise-record fourth straight trip to the postseason — needed a win plus a loss by second-place Milwaukee to Detroit on Saturday night to clinch their third NL Central title in a row.
Mikolas (18-4) allowed one unearned run and five hits in his fifth straight win. He struck out six, walked none and improved to 10-0 in 16 road starts.
Carlos Martinez worked a perfect ninth for his fifth save in five chances.
Matt Carpenter and Paul DeJong each had RBI singles. Carpenter also scored a run. And the Cardinals got back to winning after matching a season high with four straight losses.
Hamels (4-3) was a tough-luck loser, dropping his third straight start after going 4-0 in his first nine outings following a trade from Texas. The veteran left-hander gave up two runs, one earned, and three hits in seven innings. He struck out eight, walked two and hit two batters.
The Cubs got their run in the first.
Ben Zobrist singled and scored when second baseman Yairo Munoz let Javier Baez's pop fly deflect off his glove as he tried to make an over-the-shoulder basket catch in shallow right field.
St. Louis scored in the fourth and fifth, with Carpenter playing a role in both runs.
He reached on interference by catcher Victor Caratini and scored on DeJong's single in the fourth. Harrison Bader got hit by a pitch leading off the fifth and scored on a single by Carpenter, who got thrown out by Caratini trying to take second on the play.