The St. Louis Cardinals announced Tuesday afternoon that right-handed pitcher Lance Lynn underwent “Tommy John” surgery earlier today in St. Louis to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow while also having the ulnar nerve transposed and bone chips removed.

Lynn, 28, will miss the entire 2016 season.

An All-Star in 2012, Lynn recorded his third-straight season of 30 or more starts in 2015 and is one of just 16 Major League pitchers with 175.0 or more innings pitched in each of the past four seasons.

Lynn was 12-11 with a 3.03 ERA in 2015 and is 61-39 with a 3.37 ERA in 150 career games (128 starts).   His 60 wins since 2012 are 6th most in the majors, trailing only Max Scherzer (69), Clayton Kershaw (67), Zack Greinke (66), Madison Bumgarner (65) and David Price (63).

— Cardinals Press Release —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals have exercised their $11.5 million option on lefthanded starter Jaime Garcia and declined their $9 million mutual option on righthanded reliever Jonathan Broxton, who gets a $2 million buyout.

St. Louis also said Monday that infielder Pete Kozma and catchers Ed Easley and Travis Tartamella have been assigned outright to Triple-A Memphis.

Garcia, 29, was 10-6 with a 2.43 ERA in 20 starts following thoracic outlet surgery, including 7-2 from Aug. 8 through the end of the regular season before losing to the Chicago Cubs in the NL Division Series. He is 52-32 with a 3.31 ERA in 126 regular-season games.

Broxton, 31, was 3-3 with a 2.66 ERA in 26 games after he was acquired from Milwaukee at the trade deadline. He becomes eligible for free agency.

Kozma, 27, a former first-round draft pick, played in 76 games last season. Easley, 29, and Tartamella, 27, both made their major league debuts in 2015.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina is having surgery Thursday for a ligament injury to his left thumb.

General manager John Mozeliak said Molina is expected to be restricted from baseball activities for two to three months. He anticipates Molina will be ready for spring training.

Mozeliak doesn’t believe Molina worsened the injury by returning to the lineup for the National League Division Series.

Molina was hurt making a tag in Chicago on Sept. 20. He played the first three games of the NLDS with a splint and a bat shaped more like an ax handle. He did not play in Game 4.

Reliever Matt Belisle will have arthroscopic surgery Monday to remove bone chips from his elbow. Pitcher Carlos Martinez will not need surgery. He was shut down before the end of the season with a shoulder injury.

— Associated Press —

CHICAGO (AP) — Joe Maddon posed for a selfie on the field with his wife. Jon Lester sprayed champagne with his young son. Rocker Eddie Vedder partied on the mound.

For the Chicago Cubs and their ever-hopeful fans, this bash was a long time in the making.

Kyle Schwarber, Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez homered and the fresh Cubs clinched a postseason series at Wrigley Field for the first time ever, beating the St. Louis Cardinals 6-4 Tuesday to win the NL Division Series in four games.

“This is all just baseball fantasy, right?” a drenched chairman Tom Ricketts said.

Only once since they last brought home the World Series in 1908 had the Cubs won a playoff series and never before had they finished off the job at their century-plus-old ballpark.

But with a raucous, towel-waving crowd jamming the Friendly Confines, the North Siders gave generations of fans exactly what they wanted. And as they gathered in the pulsating neighborhood, the lit-up marquee at Wrigley Field said it all: Cubs Win.

“I can only imagine what the next thing is going to look like,” said Lester, the lefty who twice won the World Series with Boston. “And the next thing after that.”

The crowd started roaring before the first pitch. And when closer Hector Rondon struck out Stephen Piscotty on a ball in the dirt and catcher Miguel Montero made the tag to end it, the Cubs came streaming out of the dugout.

“They deserve it,” Rizzo said in the middle of the party. “Hopefully, this is just a taste of what’s to come.”

Up-and-comers all season under their first-year manager, Maddon’s bunch of wild-card Cubs had arrived.

As the music blared and the strobe lights flashed in the clubhouse, Cubs players and coaches soaked each other. Then they took the celebration back onto the field as fans went crazy — Vedder, from the local area, pitched right in.

The Cubs will face the winner of the Los Angeles Dodgers-New York Mets matchup. The Mets took a 2-1 lead into Game 4 Tuesday night.

Chicago will play Game 1 Saturday on the road.

No team was hotter down the stretch than Chicago, which finished third in the majors with 97 wins after five straight losing seasons.

The Cubs knocked out the two teams that finished ahead of them in the NL Central, beating Pittsburgh in the wild-card game and sending St. Louis home after it led the majors with 100 wins.

“I think we’re too young to even realize what we just did,” young slugger Kris Bryant said. “It truly is a special time right now.”

The banged-up Cardinals had reached the NLCS in the last four years.

“It was just unfortunate,” St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. “This is a team that was as impressive to watch from Day One as any team I’ve ever been around.”

“That’s always hard to walk away from. We had an opportunity maybe to get back home and do things differently, but they took advantage of the opportunities they had,” he said.

Rizzo’s solo drive to right off losing pitcher Kevin Siegrist in the sixth put Chicago back on top 5-4 after St. Louis scored two in the top half.

As if the fans were already hollering at the top of their lungs after that home run, they were really screaming after Schwarber’s monstrous shot leading off the seventh. The ball landed on top of the right-field videoboard and wound up nestled against a railing on the front edge.

The late drives by Rizzo and Schwarber along with Baez’s three-run homer off John Lackey in the second came after Chicago set a postseason record with six long balls in Monday’s win.

And with the ball flying out again, the Cubs won for the 12th time in 13 games.

Cubs starter Jason Hammel allowed two runs and three hits. He exited after giving up a leadoff walk to Jhonny Peralta in the fourth.

Seven relievers combined to hold the Cardinals to two runs and five hits the rest of the way. Trevor Cahill picked up the win and Rondon worked the ninth for the save.

Hammel settled down after giving up a two-run homer to Piscotty on the game’s fourth pitch. He also singled in a run with two out in the second before Baez connected against Lackey, the man the Cardinals were counting on to keep their season going, to make it 4-2.

Lackey gave up four runs and four hits over three innings after outpitching former teammate Lester in a dominant series opener.

The Cardinals, playing without catcher Yadier Molina (left thumb), failed to advance in the postseason after winning at least one series the previous four years.

“I definitely think the ballpark had something to do with this. They also have a really good lineup,” Lackey said.

St. Louis scored two in the sixth to tie it. But the rally ended with Tony Cruz — who drove in a run with a two-out double — getting thrown out at home by Jorge Soler trying to score on Brandon Moss’ RBI single to right.

“I will be shocked if they’re not in the World Series or winning it,” Piscotty said. “They’re playing well. You got to tip your hat.”

NOTABLE

The Cubs are headed to their fourth NLCS. … Chicago batters hit 10 homers in the series.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: Matheny said he planned to have Molina in the lineup after the loss in Game 3, but the injured thumb did not make enough progress overnight. Cruz started in his place.

Cubs: SS Addison Russell had tests Tuesday morning on his hamstring and didn’t play. “I haven’t gotten any finalized conclusions from anybody yet,” Maddon said. “He’s not going to play today, of course.” Baez took Russell’s spot.

— Associated Press —

CHICAGO (AP) — The young sluggers of the Chicago Cubs are making themselves at home in the playoffs. On a rare off-night for Jake Arrieta, the Windy City rookies bashed their way to the brink of the NL Championship Series.

Rookies Jorge Soler, Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber, along with Starlin Castro, Anthony Rizzo and Dexter Fowler, connected during a six-homer show for the Cubs, who beat the St. Louis Cardinals 8-6 on Monday to take a 2-1 lead in the NL Division Series. Arrieta struck out nine before departing in the sixth inning, and the bullpen finished the job in the first postseason game at Wrigley Field in seven years.

With a third straight Cubs win Tuesday afternoon, the once woebegone franchise will advance to the NLCS for the first time in 12 years. The Cardinals, who led the majors with 100 wins this season, have won at least one playoff series each of the past four years.

Jason Heyward and Stephen Piscotty homered for St. Louis, which got to Arrieta for four runs in his worst start in four months. But the Cardinals were unable to keep the Cubs in the ballpark.

The six homers by Chicago set a franchise record for a playoff game and were one more than the five long balls hit by Cubs in Game 1 of the 1984 NLCS against San Diego.

The Cardinals trailed 8-4 before Piscotty hit a two-run shot with two out in the ninth. It was a scary moment for a towel-waving crowd of 42,411 used to playoff heartache. But Hector Rondon retired Matt Holliday on a harmless bouncer to second, and the party was on.

Arrieta improved to 18-1 with a 1.00 ERA in his past 22 starts dating to June 21, but he was far from his usual dominant self. He hadn’t allowed more than three runs in a game since a June 16 loss to Cleveland.

It didn’t matter — not one bit.

Schwarber, Castro and Bryant homered against Michael Wacha in his first playoff appearance since he threw the final pitch of the 2014 postseason for the Cardinals, which was a game-ending, three-run shot by Travis Ishikawa in the NLCS.

Bryant’s two-run drive made it 4-2 with one out in the fifth and chased Wacha in favor of Kevin Siegrist. Rizzo followed with another long ball, a drive to deep right for his first hit of the playoffs.

Even Adam Wainwright got into the act by serving up Soler’s two-run shot in the sixth. Soler, who struggled with injuries for much of the year, is 4-for-4 with two homers, four RBIs and five walks in the series.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — For one inning, Jorge Soler and all those Chicago Cubs rookies looked like playoff-tested veterans, and the St. Louis Cardinals appeared shaken.

That’s all it took.

Kyle Hendricks and Addison Russell had successful squeeze bunts, and Soler capped a five-run second with a two-run homer off Jaime Garcia, and the Cubs held off the Cardinals 6-3 on Saturday night to even their NL Division Series at a game apiece.

“Listen, I can’t be more proud of our guys,” manager Joe Maddon said. “When you win a wild-card game like we did, I promise you, you settle in. We didn’t win yesterday but we were not overwhelmed by anything.”

Maddon made all the right moves a night after the Cubs lost the opener 4-0. Now the teams shift to Wrigley Field for Game 3 Monday, the first playoff game at the friendly confines since 2008, where Chicago’s 22-game winner, Jake Arrieta, faces St. Louis’ Michael Wacha in the best-of-five series.

“Getting back there 1-1 with our big dog on the mound, the atmosphere is going to be good,” Anthony Rizzo said.

The usually steady NL Central champion Cardinals made two errors, and the Cubs didn’t hit the ball out of the infield in scoring their first three runs in the second.

“It is hard to watch a club that’s played so well defensively, see a couple things happen that are kind of uncharacteristic for us,” manager Mike Matheny said.

Making his first postseason start, Soler homered off Garcia (0-1), who was lifted because of a stomach ailment after the second. The Cubs have been working Soler back into the mix after he returned from a left oblique strain in mid-September.

“All I was trying to do was help the team win,” Soler said through a translator. “He got a ball up where I could hit it hard.”

Garcia told the team he felt a bit ill about an hour before the game but thought he’d be fine.

“I was going to pitch, it was my game,” Garcia said. “I worked so hard all year for this situation, and unfortunately, it didn’t go my way, but no excuse.”

Dexter Fowler, Soler and Starlin Castro each had two of Chicago’s six hits in a game played in front of a lively crowd of 47,859, a postseason record at 10-year-old Busch Stadium, that included thousands of Cubs fans.

Soler also doubled and walked twice in the Cubs’ first non-wild card postseason victory since 2003. Chicago had lost seven straight Division Series games.

The Cardinals homered three times, including a leadoff homer by Matt Carpenter. Consecutive shots by Kolten Wong and pinch hitter Randal Grichuk with two outs in the fifth chased Hendricks one out shy of qualifying for the victory in his postseason debut.

Travis Wood (1-0) allowed one hit with two strikeouts in 2⅓ scoreless innings for the victory. Hector Rondon, briefly stuck in the bullpen bathroom during Game 1, earned his first career postseason save.

“That’s really funny for me right now,” Rondon said with a laugh.

Though none of the runs were earned in the second, Garcia’s first postseason start since 2012 was a disaster.

The Cubs capitalized when Garcia blew a play on a safety squeeze by Hendricks. Garcia hesitated instead of throwing home with a very good chance of cutting down the run, then made a wild, flat-footed throw to first for an error.

“I didn’t even see it,” Hendricks said. “I put my head down and started running.”

Russell, the next batter, squeezed in another run, and Fowler had an RBI infield hit before Soler drove a high 2-2 pitch over the center-field wall.

“Everything has to be set up properly for that,” Maddon said. “It just was.”

The inning was also aided by an ill-advised, off-target relay to first for a throwing error by second baseman Wong trying for a double play.

Lance Lynn, the presumptive Game 4 starter, replaced Garcia in the third as the first in a parade of relievers. Matheny said there are “options” for Game 4, with Lynn or lefty Tyler Lyons as possibilities.

Two-time 20-game winner Adam Wainwright, coming off a torn left Achilles in late April, fanned three in 1⅔ scoreless innings, his fourth appearance since being injured and first of more than an inning.

Hendricks allowed three homers in 4⅔ innings. He had 17 no-decisions in the regular season, most in the majors.

SERIOUS SLUMP

Kris Bryant went 0-for-4, with three groundouts and a strikeout. He is 3-for-34 with no RBIs in his past nine games.

BIG PITCH

Ted Simmons, inducted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame earlier this year, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Simmons had been a senior adviser to the Mariners’ general manager but said he’d been let go.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: The outing was Garcia’s shortest of the year. He had a pair of four-inning starts the final month, one of them against the Cubs.

NOTABLE

Wong’s past nine postseason hits have gone for extra bases, matching the major-league-record shared by Miguel Cabrera and Jayson Werth. … Grichuk’s homer gave the Cardinals two homers in three pinch-hit at-bats this series.

UP NEXT

Wacha (17-7, 3.38) was St. Louis’ top winner with 17, but he struggled the final month, going 2-3 with a 7.88 ERA. “I think his highs far outweigh his lows,” Wainwright said. Arrieta (22-6, 1.77) is the Cubs’ biggest winner since Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins was 24-13 in 1971. He tossed a shutout in the wild-card game.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — John Lackey lived up to his reputation as a pitcher who craves the ball in October, helping the St. Louis Cardinals cool off the upstart Chicago Cubs.

Lackey outpitched old teammate Jon Lester, allowing two hits into the eighth inning, and rookies Tommy Pham and Stephen Piscotty each homered late for the Cardinals in a 4-0 victory Friday night in the opener of their NL Division Series.

“Tonight was special, for sure,” Lackey said. “The atmosphere was outstanding, the crowd was really into it, and I knew I’d have to pitch well.”

He did it in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 47,830 — the second largest at 10-year-old Busch Stadium — with thousands of Cubs faithful mixed into the red throng for the first postseason game between the two longtime rivals.

“Incredible. I thought his fastball was about as good as we’ve seen. Period,” manager Mike Matheny said. “Anything you wanted to do, he pretty much had it.”

Yadier Molina did his part behind the plate, too, wearing a splint to protect a strained left thumb ligament that had sidelined him since Sept. 20. He was 0-for-3 but seemingly had no issues.

“You can tell he’s been anxious to get in there,” Matheny said. “The way he moved behind the plate, the way he and John were working, he is so valuable to our club in so many ways.”

Lackey protected a 1-0 lead by holding the Cubs hitless for five innings, getting help from Kris Bryant’s double-play ball by to end the fourth. Addison Russell ended the suspense with a solid single up the middle to open the sixth and Kyle Schwarber’s bunt hit leading off the seventh was the only other hit allowed by Lackey in 7⅓ innings.

Kevin Siegrist struck out two to end the eighth, when it was still a one-run game. Trevor Rosenthal gave up a single and a walk but fanned three in finishing the three-hitter.

Game 2 of the best-of-five series is Saturday. The Cardinals turn to lefty Jaime Garcia (10-6), who made 20 starts coming off risky thoracic surgery. Kyle Hendricks (8-7) makes his postseason debut for the NL wild-card winners.

Matt Holliday had an RBI single in the first, giving St. Louis a lead after just three at-bats. Pinch hitting, Pham homered off Lester with one out in the eighth to snap a string of 13 straight outs for the lefty. Piscotty had a two-run shot off Pedro Strop in the eighth.

The 36-year-old Lackey outdid Lester, with whom he formed a potent 1-2 punch on the 2013 Red Sox, the team that knocked off the Cardinals in the World Series.

“Lester did his thing as well,” Lackey said. “A really fun game, and fun to be a part of.”

Lackey is 3-0 with an 0.93 ERA in four starts against Chicago overall. Lester is 1-4, but he has a 2.79 ERA against St. Louis.

Including their wild-card victory at Pittsburgh, the Cubs had won nine in a row. They haven’t scored since the fifth inning of that 4-0 victory, however.

Manager Joe Maddon interrupted the game briefly in the sixth but said he’d just asked plate umpire Phil Cuzzi to have the ball replaced because it had been in the dirt.

“We could not get anything generated,” Maddon said. “They’ve pitched really well all season. That’s a big reason they won 100 games.”

Lester, the Cubs’ big offseason free-agent pickup, settled in for an impressive night after the first. Piscotty doubled with one out and scored on Holliday’s single. Lester struck out nine and gave up three runs on five hits in 7⅓ innings.

“Lack made really one more pitch than I did,” Lester said. “I know obviously the grand total doesn’t show that, but that’s kind of the way I feel.”

St. Louis finished three games ahead of the Cubs, who had the third-best record in the majors and are making their first postseason appearance since 2008. The Cardinals were outscored 12-0 the final three games at Atlanta after wrapping up their third straight NL Central title.

BIG PITCH

Reggie Sanders threw a strike to the plate on the ceremonial first pitch. Ten years ago, Sanders hit a grand slam off San Diego’s Jake Peavy in the opener of the division series.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cubs: OF Jorge Soler hasn’t played much since coming back from a left oblique strain in mid-September, getting four starts the past 17 games, counting the wild-card game.

Cardinals: Matt Adams was left off the division series roster because he’s still rounding into form following surgery for a torn quadriceps.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: Garcia has made a full recovery from thoracic outlet surgery that cost him much of the previous three seasons. “Every time I take that mound, basically take it as if it’s your last time ever to pitch in a major league game,” Garcia said. Garcia didn’t face the Cubs in the regular season, but he’s 2-1 with a 2.00 ERA in five career starts against them.

Cubs: Hendricks worked six scoreless innings each of his past two starts. He had a major league-high and franchise-record 17 no-decisions. Matt Carpenter is 6-for-10 with a homer and three RBIs, and Holliday is 6-for-12 with two homers and four RBIs against the right-hander, making his first postseason appearance.

— Associated Press —

ATLANTA (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals enter the postseason with 100 wins — and a 27-inning scoreless streak for their batters.

Matt Wisler pitched four-hit ball over 8 2/3 innings, and the Atlanta Braves beat St. Louis 2-0 Sunday to complete a doubleheader sweep.

St. Louis was held to seven hits in the doubleheader, which included a 6-0 loss to Shelby Miller in the first game that ended Miller’s 24-start winless streak. The Braves won 4-0 Friday.

“We hate to lose every game,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said.

St. Louis, which won its third straight NL Central title, opens the Division Series at home Friday against the Chicago Cubs or Pittsburgh.

Matheny tried to give certain starters rest. He also was wary of a wet field following a weekend of rain at Turner Field.

“We tried to make sure we did everything we could to get guys rest, to get guys off the soggy field,” Matheny said, adding he tried to “eliminate injury.”

Added Matheny: “Once again, it doesn’t matter to me who you put out there, I want to put some runs together.”

Jason Heyward, who sat out the second game after having one hit in two at-bats in the opener, said the conditions made him “cranky.”

“I don’t necessarily like a series or situation like that,” Heyward said. “I’m kind of geared toward one mindset, to win and to be playing for something.”

Wisler (8-8) won each of his last three starts, allowing a combined three runs.

Pinch-hitter Brandon Moss doubled with one out in the ninth to become the Cardinals’ first runner in scoring position off Wisler. Jon Jay hit a groundout to first, Tommy Pham walked and Edwin Jackson struck out Randal Grichuk to end the game.

Hector Olivera’s single drove in Michael Bourn in the first off Lance Lynn (12-11), who allowed one run and seven hits in five innings.

Miller held his former Cardinals teammates to three hits through eight innings.

“As a team, we haven’t been this excited in a long time,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said.

Miller’s drought was the longest in the majors since Chris Volstad’s 24-game streak from July 17, 2011 to Aug. 19, 2012. It was the longest streak by a Braves starting pitcher since the team moved to Atlanta in 1966.

“You don’t expect to go out there and finish that well,” Miller said, adding he couldn’t avoid talk of his streak.

Miller (6-17) struck out seven and walked three. He had been 0-16 since winning at Miami on May 17 despite a 3.83 ERA in that span. He finished with a 3.02 ERA, best among Atlanta starters, and topped 200 innings for the first time.

John Lackey (13-10) allowed three runs over four innings in a postseason tuneup.

A GOOD 100

St. Louis (100-62) had its first 100-win season since 2005, when the Cardinals finished 100-62.

LESS IMPRESSIVE 100

The Braves finished last in the majors in homers. Adonis Garcia hit two homers and Andrelton Simmons added a two-run drive in the first game, giving Atlanta 100.

REMEMBERING 1990

Atlanta finished with 67 wins, under 70 wins in a full season for the first time since 1990, when it was 65-97. The Braves were 68-46 in the strike-shortened 1994 season. The attendance of 31,441 left the season total at 2,001,391, allowing the Braves to barely avoid finishing below 2 million for the first time since 1990. The 2014 total was 2,354,305.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: RF Stephen Piscotty was 0 for 4 in the first game in his return to the lineup six days after he sustained a concussion in an outfield collision with teammate Peter Bourjos.

Braves: C Ryan Lavarnway started both games because of injuries to catchers Christian Bethancourt (thumb) and A.J. Pierzynski (knee shin). Despite his injury, Pierzynski emerged from the center-field wall during the tool mascot race between the fifth and sixth innings of the second game. He leveled the paint brush and hammer characters with body blocks. Seeing this, the smallest character, “Phil the bucket,” turned around and ran back to the start line in the right-field tunnel.

— Associated Press —

ATLANTA (AP) — Julio Teheran closed out the regular season just the way he wanted.

Teheran pitched six strong innings, Daniel Castro drove in two runs and the Atlanta Braves beat the NL Central champion St. Louis Cardinals 4-0 on Friday night.

“You want to finish strong,” Teheran said. “That’s what you want to take home.”

St. Louis, which opens the postseason at home next Friday, was coming off a three-game series win at Pittsburgh that secured its third straight division title. Manager Mike Matheny gave most of his everyday players the night off.

Teheran (11-8) allowed five hits, walked one and struck out six. The right-hander went 2-1 with a 1.62 ERA in his last six starts. The Braves’ season ends Sunday.

“I know we were playing the best team in the National League,” Teheran said. “I was really focused on this game. I think I did really good.”

The Cardinals had the bases loaded with no out in the fifth but came up empty when pinch-hitter John Jay grounded into a double play and Tommy Pham struck out.

Atlanta, which stranded 12 runners, went up 2-0 in the third on Castro’s second homer and A.J. Pierzynski’s RBI double. Castro’s RBI double and Nick Markakis’ RBI single in the eighth made it 4-0.

Jaime Garcia (10-6) gave up six hits and two runs with two walks and five strikeouts in his shortest outing since April 19, 2013 at Philadelphia. St. Louis has been shut out in all six of his losses.

“I wanted to get a feel for things and I was able to accomplish that,” Garcia said. “All I can say is I’m going to be ready to go next week, whenever it is (that he pitches).”

Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright, making his second relief appearance since returning this week from an Achilles injury, faced four batters in the seventh. Castro reached on an error.

The Braves used four relievers. Closer Arodys Vizcaino, pitching the ninth in a non-save situation, struck out Pete Kozma to end it with a runner at second.

SAME TRADE, DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS

The deal that sent right fielder Jason Heyward to St. Louis and starting pitcher Shelby Miller to Atlanta last winter hasn’t exactly been a blessing for both.

Heyward, who was given the night off, returned to Turner Field for the first time since last November’s trade and leads his new team with a .292 average and 23 stolen bases.

“It’d be more of a homecoming if more of the teammates I played with were still here,” Heyward said. “I know this is the team I broke in with and I played a lot of games with, but it’s a different team and a different vibe.”

Miller, whose new club has the majors’ third-worst record, remains close with Matheny and several former teammates. He’ll be cheering for them when the playoffs start.

Despite making the NL All-Star team, Miller is 0-16 in his last 24 starts, but has a 3.77 ERA over that span since May 17. He will try to end the streak Saturday.

“They’re some of my best friends and I wish them the best of luck, but I’m going to try to beat them tomorrow,” he said. “They’re not going to get out of here easy, that’s for sure.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: Matheny hopes OF Stephen Piscotty can play Saturday or Sunday. The rookie suffered a head contusion in an outfield collision on Monday and spent the night in a Pittsburgh hospital. Matheny said Piscotty passed a concussion test and did some hitting and running before the game.

Braves: RHP Paco Rodriguez, acquired in the trade that brought third baseman Hector Olivera from the Los Angeles Dodgers, has undergone Tommy John surgery and will miss all of next season.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP John Lackey (13-9) is 1-0 with a 1.46 ERA in two career starts against Atlanta.

Braves: RHP Miller (5-17) will face St. Louis for the second time. He lost 1-0 at Busch Stadium on July 25.

— Associated Press —

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The celebration has become a fall ritual for the St. Louis Cardinals. The champagne showers. The rowdy sing-alongs. The giddy clubhouse joy.

Yet it doesn’t get old. Not for this group. Not after an emotionally draining season in which they somehow powered themselves to a third straight NL Central title, the clincher coming in an 11-1 dispatching of Pittsburgh in the second game of a doubleheader on Wednesday night that served as an exclamation point on a year unlike any other.

“Tell me another team that is going to lose their ace and their three-hole hitter and is going to win 100 games?” third baseman Matt Carpenter said, his eyes dripping with celebratory booze. “It’s just not going to happen and we found a way to do it.”

Jason Heyward’s third-inning grand slam led the way and Tyler Lyons (3-1) did the rest, shutting down the Pirates for seven innings in a spot start that exemplified the attitude the Cardinals have adopted during a turbulent summer in which they somehow grew stronger even as their stars went down.

“Obviously we have bigger plans,” said Lyons, who has bounced between the rotation and the bullpen all year. “This is exciting and hopefully we can ride this out for a little while longer.”

The Cardinals can ease up for a week while they finish the regular season in Atlanta and await the winner of next Wednesday’s wild-card game between the Pirates and the Cubs. St. Louis will host Game 1 of the NL Division Series on Oct. 9 as it chases the franchise’s third title in a decade.

It’s a race the Cardinals believe they’re ready for. Considering what they’ve dealt with over the last 12 months, they’ll hardly be an easy out.

St. Louis bounced back emotionally after promising outfielder Oscar Taveras was killed in a car accident last October. The Cardinals took over sole possession of first on April 17 and held on in a season when No. 1 starter Adam Wainwright, sluggers Matt Holliday and Matt Adams and high-profile relievers Jordan Walden and Matt Belisle spent large chunks of the season on the disabled list.

“It seemed like no matter what happened, this team never quit,” Carpenter said.

The way the relentless Pirates and surging Cubs kept coming, St. Louis really didn’t have a choice.

“This was one of those seasons where guys feel it and when they push through it and are able to come out on top,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “This has a lot more meaning than what it looks like at face value.”

Wainwright returned from a torn left Achilles to pitch one inning of mop-up duty during an 8-2 loss in the opener, his astounding recovery four months ahead of schedule. Even Pirates manager Clint Hurdle applauded when Wainwright raced in from the bullpen in the eighth inning.

The smile was gone a few hours later as the Cardinals whooped it up a few hundred feet away in the visiting clubhouse. Pittsburgh has 277 wins since the start of 2013, the second-best record in the majors over that stretch. The Pirates also have zero division titles. Why? Because the Cardinals have 287 wins over the same span.

“We’ve still got to stay focused on right where we are,” Hurdle said. “They won their 100th game tonight. We’ve got 96. Separation is what it is. The ultimate goal hasn’t changed, to win a world championship. We’re just going to have to go about it in a different method now.”

The Pirates missed a chance to inject some real drama into the final week of the regular season when they left 16 runners on base in a 3-0 loss on Monday night. Though Gerrit Cole threw seven strong innings in the opener on Wednesday to briefly pull the Pirates within three games, the Cardinals wasted little time getting to Charlie Morton (9-9), just like always.

Morton came in winless against St. Louis since April 4, 2011, a span of 11 starts. Tasked with forcing the Cardinals to wrap up the division in Atlanta on Friday, Morton faltered once again.

Carpenter led off the game with a triple to the gap in left-center, with normally sure handed Pittsburgh outfielders Starling Marte and Andrew McCutchen letting the ball scoot between them. Carpenter scored on a double play, Heyward singled and then scored on a double by Adams.

Morton temporarily gathered himself only to unravel completely in the third. Carpenter doubled, Morton hit Jon Jay with a pitch and walked Jhonny Peralta. Reliever Bobby LaFromboise came in for Morton only to watch Heyward send his fourth pitch streaking into the seats in right-center to make it 6-0 and send the attendants in the visiting clubhouse at PNC Park scrambling to prepare for a party.

“It’s the first step,” said Heyward, acquired in an offseason trade from Atlanta. “We’ve still got a lot to get done.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: Made room for Wainwright by placing RHP Carlos Martinez on the 60-day disabled list with a strained right shoulder.

Pirates: C Francisco Cervelli was treated between games by trainers after taking a foul ball off his left ear in the opener. He remained in the game and started the nightcap, a rarity for a catcher.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: St. Louis wraps up the year with a three-game set with the Braves in Atlanta starting Friday when Jaime Garcia (10-5, 2.36 ERA) faces Julio Teheran (10-8, 4.16).

Pirates: Host Cincinnati on Friday looking to secure homefield advantage for the wild-card. Francisco Liriano (12-7, 3.27 ERA) will look for his 10th win in his last 11 decisions.

— Associated Press —