Lance Lynn needed only a few words to describe a 13-pitch at-bat.

“Three-two heater. He beat me.”

There were more questions for the St. Louis Cardinals reliever, of course, but the answers were more or less the same. He went mano-a-mano with Jayson Werth in the bottom of the ninth inning of a playoff game, losing the battle when the Washington leadoff hitter put the baker’s dozen offering off the back wall of the visitors dugout beyond left field.

“Everyone in the stadium knew what I was throwing there,” Lynn said. “Tip your cap to him. The guy can play, and he beat me.”

The Nationals’ 2-1 win Thursday in Game 4 kept the Cardinals from clinching the NL Division Series, and now there will be a decisive Game 5 in Washington on Friday. It’ll be hard to top this one — with Werth going strike, strike, ball, ball, foul, foul, foul, foul, foul, foul, ball and foul before launching the hit that had him circling the bases, tossing his helmet high and leaping into a pile of teammates at home plate.

“He battled that whole at-bat, and I was making good pitches, making my pitches, and you know, he won,” Lynn said. “It was just a matter of time. I was challenging him, and he was up for it.”

It’s the kind of playoff moment all at Nationals Park will remember for a long time. The tension was building with each of the 13 pitches, the sellout crowd ready to explode.

“I guess for the pitcher and the hitter, the pressure on them have to be unbelievable,” Cardinals star Carlos Beltran said. “Because Werth is battling, and our pitcher’s trying to get him out. He ended up winning that battle right there, but we have one more day.”

The Cardinals wasted a stellar effort by Kyle Lohse, who allowed just two hits over seven innings with five strikeouts and a walk, his only miscue coming on Adam LaRoche’s dead-center homer in the second.

Mitchell Boggs handled the eighth, and rookie manager Mike Matheny opted to go with Lynn — a starter relegated to the bullpen for this series — rather than closer Jason Motte with the score tied in the ninth.

“If we were at home, it would have been a very easy decision to bring in Motte,” Matheny said. “We are looking at a team that had every save of our season by Jason Motte, and we take a lead there at any point (in extra innings), you’re asking one of our guys, especially one of our young guys, who have never been in that situation to come in and close out a game, and that’s a lot to ask.

“Had a lot of confidence in Lance. He came in throwing the ball well. Werth just put together a very good at-bat.”

The Cardinals had scored a combined 20 runs in Games 2 and 3, but they managed only one unearned tally against Nationals starter Ross Detwiler. Pete Kozma circled the bases in the second inning by way of a walk, a sacrifice bunt, a booted grounder by shortstop Ian Desmond and a sacrifice fly.

Detwiler allowed three hits over six innings — the type of performance Washington needed after Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmermann and Edwin Jackson were far from their best in Games 1-3, respectively.

It got worse for the Cardinals against the Nationals’ relievers. Zimmerman, the Game 2 loser, struck out the side in the seventh in his first career relief appearance, and Tyler Clippard also notched three Ks in the eighth. Drew Storen got two more strikeouts in the ninth before Desmond ended the inning with a nice, stumble-to-the-ground catch of a deep popup by pinch hitter Matt Carpenter.

Although St. Louis is a wild-card team facing the club with the best record in baseball in the regular season, the intangibles should belong to the visitors Friday. While nearly to a man — Werth being an exception — the young Nationals are new to this sort of thing, the Cardinals have quite the postseason pedigree: In the past two years, St. Louis is 5-0 in games where it faces elimination, including must-have victories in Games 6 and 7 of the 2011 World Series against the Texas Rangers.

“We’ve got a lot of veterans in this clubhouse that have been in big spots before and have lost games and know how to bounce back,” second baseman Daniel Descalso said. “We’ve done a good job of that lately, and we’re going to try to do it again tomorrow.”

On the mound will be Adam Wainwright, a 14-game winner who was a spectator during last year’s title run while recovering from elbow reconstruction surgery.

“Of course I wish we would have won tonight, but you know what? This is every pitcher’s dream, I would say,” said Wainwright, who pitched well in Game 1 of this series but didn’t get the decision. “Every competitor’s dream is to go in huge moments like that, so I look forward to the challenge.”

— Associated Press —

Set aside the high-pressure task of postseason pitching that Chris Carpenter routinely masters for the St. Louis Cardinals and think about this:

Even the take-it-for-granted act of breathing feels odd on occasion now that he’s missing a rib and two neck muscles.

Taking the mound for only the fourth time in 2012 after complicated surgery to cure numbness on his right side, the 37-year-old Carpenter spoiled the return of postseason baseball to Washington by throwing scoreless ball into the sixth inning, and the defending champion Cardinals beat the Nationals 8-0 Wednesday to take a 2-1 lead in their NL division series.

“To go from not being able to compete, and not only compete but help your team, to be able to be in this situation,” Carpenter said, “it’s pretty cool.”

Rookie Pete Kozma delivered a three-run homer, and a trio of relievers finished the shutout for the Cardinals, who can end the best-of-five series in Thursday’s Game 4 at Washington. Kyle Lohse will start for St. Louis. Ross Detwiler pitches for Washington, which is sticking to its long-stated plan of keeping Stephen Strasburg on the sideline the rest of the way.

“We’re not out of this, by a long shot,” Nationals manager Davey Johnson said. “Shoot, I’ve had my back to worse walls than this.”

With the exception of Ian Desmond — 3 for 4 on Wednesday, 7 for 12 in the series — the Nationals’ hitters are struggling mightily. They’ve scored a total of seven runs in the playoffs and went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base in Game 3.

Rookie phenom Bryce Harper’s woes, in particular, stand out: He went 0 for 5, dropping to 1 for 15. He went to the plate with an ash bat and no gloves in the first inning, tried wearing anti-glare tinted contact lenses on a sun-splashed afternoon — nothing helped.

“Nothing I can do,” the 19-year-old Harper said. “I just missed a couple.”

All in all, quite a damper on the day for a Nationals Park-record 45,017 red-wearing, towel-twirling fans witnessing the first major league postseason game in the nation’s capital in 79 years. They didn’t have much to enjoy, in part because of the problems created by Nationals starter Edwin Jackson, who was on the Cardinals’ championship team a year ago.

“I didn’t feel like I was out of rhythm. I didn’t feel like I couldn’t throw strikes. I just missed across the plate with a couple of balls and it cost me,” Jackson said.

He gave up four consecutive hits in the second, the biggest being Kozma’s first-pitch homer into the first row in left off a 94 mph fastball to make it 4-0. Kozma took over as the Cardinals’ everyday shortstop in September, replacing injured All-Star Rafael Furcal, and only had 72 at-bats during the regular season.

But he’s only the latest in a series of “Who’s that?” stars of this postseason.

With the Capitol Dome rising beyond left field, the crowd of today was ready to root, root, root for the home team, breaking into chants of “Let’s go, Nats!” after player introductions and again after a four-jet flyover. And, boy, did they boo — when Cardinals outfielder Jon Jay was announced as the game’s first batter, when first-base umpire Jim Joyce missed a call, when catcher Yadier Molina trotted to chat with Carpenter, even when Carpenter paused between pitches to tie his red-and-gray right shoe.

“Carp’s been a dominant pitcher his whole career. Big-game pitcher. He showed up,” Washington’s Jayson Werth said. “He pitched well today. We had him in some spots. We had him on the ropes a couple of times. We were just one bloop away from a totally different ballgame.”

The Cardinals won 10 fewer games than the majors-best Nationals this season and finished second in the NL Central, nine games behind Cincinnati, sneaking into the postseason as the league’s second wild-card under this year’s new format. But the Cardinals become a different bunch in the high-pressure playoffs — no matter that slugger Albert Pujols and manager Tony La Russa are no longer around.

Carpenter still is, even though even he didn’t expect to be pitching this year when he encountered problems during spring training and needed what Cardinals manager Mike Matheny termed a “radical” operation in July to correct a nerve problem.

“Everyone had written him off, kind of,” Jay said. “It could have been a season-ending injury, where he could have just gone home and said, `See you later.”

The top rib on Carpenter’s right side was removed, along with muscles that were constricting blood flow up there. After Wednesday’s game, he squeezed his big right hand with his left, explaining, “Basically, my nerves were getting squished down by all the scar tissue and all the muscles and everything. There wasn’t enough space.”

Still adjusting to the way breathing feels different, he returned Sept. 21, going 0-2 in three starts totaling 17 innings, so it wasn’t clear how he’d fare Wednesday.

Yeah, right.

Carpenter allowed seven hits and walked two across his 5 2/3 innings to improve to 10-2 over his career in the postseason. That includes a 4-0 mark while helping another group of wild-card Cardinals take the title in the 2011 World Series, when he won Game 7 against Texas.

The 10 victories tie Carpenter for seventh-most, behind Andy Pettitte’s record 19.

“If the baseball world doesn’t know what an amazing competitor he is by now, they haven’t been paying any attention,” Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday said.

Carpenter collected a pair of hits, including a double off the wall in the fifth that was about a foot or two away from being a homer. When he reached second base, he raised his right fist.

Earlier, Carpenter stepped to the plate for his first at-bat and chatted with umpire Joe West.

“I say hello to him. And he said hello back, and he talked about what a beautiful day it was to play a baseball game. And I was like, `You ain’t kidding,” Carpenter recounted. “Beautiful weather. The crowd is going crazy. … There’s no question you take time to reflect on that.”

— Associated Press —

Three hits and an excruciating loss one day, double-digit runs and a laugher the next. The St. Louis Cardinals have been that type of team all season.

The defending World Series champions tied their NL division series with Washington at one game apiece by doing what they do best – forgetting about what happened the day before and concentrating on the game at hand. They lost the division series and NLCS openers last year, and look how that turned out.

Carlos Beltran hit the last two of the Cardinals’ four homers and St. Louis chased an ineffective Jordan Zimmermann early in a 12-4 rout of the Nationals on Monday.

”We know this offense has the potential to do this,” Cardinals rookie manager Mike Matheny said. ”It was nice to see this, and hopefully it becomes contagious and the guys just keep going.”

Daniel Descalso and Allen Craig also went deep to help the Cardinals build a big lead that compensated for a two-inning start from an ailing Jaime Garcia. Craig hit his fifth career postseason homer and scored three times.

”If we get things going, we feel like we can carry the team,” Craig said. ”As you saw tonight, we put a lot of good swings on the ball and really drove the ball. It was a lot of fun.”

Ryan Zimmerman and Adam LaRoche hit consecutive homers in the fifth for the Nationals, who head home for the remainder of the best-of-five series. But the NL East champions are without All-Star ace Stephen Strasburg, shut down for the rest of the season early last month to protect his surgically repaired arm.

”I miss him not experiencing this with us and he misses not experiencing it with us,” Nationals manager Davey Johnson said. ”But we did the right thing, there’s no question.

”He’d have been the guy that opened the series.”

Garcia was taken out with a shoulder injury and sent for an MRI exam. The left-hander missed two months this season with shoulder fatigue.

”It just wasn’t right the whole time. I had to come out of the game,” Garcia said. ”I don’t know how it happened, I don’t know when it happened.

”I’m just hoping it’s not too bad, but at the same time you’ve just got to wait and see how it goes.”

Game 3 is Wednesday afternoon at Nationals Park, the first postseason contest in the nation’s capital since the original Senators played the New York Giants in the 1933 World Series. Edwin Jackson starts for Washington against longtime Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter, who made only three starts during the regular season because of injury.

”Today, for us, was a must-win game,” Beltran said.

The Cardinals seem to live for those. They lost the division series and NLCS openers last fall, then finished strong in the World Series after spotting Texas a 3-2 lead.

So, they’re on familiar ground. And once again, as a wild card.

”We knew how big this game was for us,” center fielder Jon Jay said. ”We’ve seen it all year – when we are able to do that, we are pretty dangerous.”

After the Nationals rallied late to win the opener 3-2, there were no lineup changes in Game 2 – just a lot more clutch hitting from players accustomed to October pressure.

Beltran homered twice in the postseason for the third time in his career, connecting in the sixth off Mike Gonzalez and eighth off Sean Burnett. Jay had two hits and three RBIs, plus an outstanding catch at the center-field wall to deprive Danny Espinosa of extra bases in the sixth.

”One of the best catches I’ve seen. I think it’s his best catch of the year,” Matheny said. ”He barely looked up as he was hitting the wall. Very impressive.”

St. Louis was 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position during Game 1 and totaled just three hits, but the Cardinals had five hits in a four-run second Monday. Descalso hit his first postseason homer in the fourth, a day after getting robbed by Jayson Werth’s leaping catch at the right-field wall. Beltran’s drive off Gonzalez in the sixth banged off the facade in the third deck in left, estimated at 444 feet.

”I hope I never see this offense again,” Johnson said to much laughter in the postgame interview room.

Shadows creeped past the pitcher’s mound around the third inning and didn’t seem to be as big of an issue in Game 2, which started 1 1/2 hours later than the opener. Both teams had issues with the playing conditions after the opener.

Late last season, after complaints from Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman, the Cardinals said they’d try not to schedule late afternoon games that might be affected.

Nationals rookie Bryce Harper went 1 for 5 and struck out four times. He also was thrown out at third base on an ill-advised attempt to advance. He is 1 for 10 in the series with six strikeouts.

”Do I look overanxious? You think so?” he said to one reporter. ”Maybe you should be a hitting coach.”

Zimmermann lasted a season-low three innings while pitching on eight days’ rest. His next-shortest outing this year also was against the Cardinals, when he coughed up a four-run, first-inning cushion and was chased after yielding eight runs in 3 2-3 innings during a 10-9 loss at home.

The numbers weren’t favorable for the 25-year-old right-hander prior to first pitch, given he’s 0-2 with a 9.45 ERA in five career regular-season starts against the Cardinals. They were 3 for 5 with runners in scoring position against a pitcher who led the majors by holding opponents to a .160 average.

”They have a great lineup,” Zimmermann said. ”You get a few guys out and then you’ve got Beltran, (David) Freese and it never stops. You have to make your pitches and I wasn’t able to do that tonight.”

Nationals batters made contact on just four of Garcia’s 24 pitches in the first, threatening with a pair of walks. Garcia went to a full count on five of his first eight hitters, and threw 51 pitches in two innings while surrendering Zimmermann’s RBI single in the second.

The Cardinals had 18-game winner Lance Lynn warming up in the second and the right-hander stood on the bullpen mound during St. Louis’ four-run inning. Pinch-hitter Skip Schumaker stood on the top dugout step while Pete Kozma struck out for the first out in the second and it was no decoy, with Schumaker contributing a run-scoring groundout to the rally.

Before heading to the on-deck circle, Garcia knew he was done for the day.

”I told them when I went in that I was coming out,” he said.

Lynn, who would likely replace Garcia in the rotation, struck out five in a three-inning stint marred by the consecutive homers.

”I was ready from the get-go in case anything happened,” he said. ”Something I was able to do at times this year, able to be down in the bullpen a little bit, and I was able to use that experience.”

St. Louis opened the second with four straight hits, singles by Craig and Yadier Molina that set the table followed by an RBI double from Freese and a run-scoring single from Descalso.

— Associated Press —

Rookie right-hander Shelby Miller took a no-hitter into the sixth inning in his first career start, Matt Carpenter had a run-scoring single and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 1-0 Wednesday night.

The Cardinals, who won 12 of their final 16 regular-season games, clinched the second NL wild card spot Tuesday and will face the Braves in Atlanta on Friday.

Cincinnati, which has won four of seven, takes on NL West champion San Francisco in an NL division series beginning Saturday.

Miller gave up a two-out bloop single to Wilson Valdez in the sixth to end his no-hit bid. He struck out seven, walked two and allowed just one hit over six innings.

Reds starter Homer Bailey, who threw a no-hitter at Pittsburgh in his previous start, tossed four shutout innings on four hits. He struck out six and did not walk a batter.

Carpenter drove in Shane Robinson with a one-out single that eluded second baseman Henry Rodriguez. Robinson singled off Jonathan Broxton (3-3) to start the rally.

St. Louis reliever Victor Marte (3-2) picked up the win with one inning of relief. Jason Motte recorded his 42nd save in 49 opportunities, tying him for the most saves in the NL with Craig Kimbrel of Atlanta.

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny held seven regulars out of the lineup. Shortstop Pete Kozma was the only starter to begin the contest.

Reds skipper Dusty Baker started most of his regulars.

Lance Berkman pinch hit in the seventh inning in his first appearance since Sept. 7. He has had two knee surgeries this season and is contemplating retiring. He received a standing ovation after grounding back to the pitcher.

— Associated Press —

Mat Latos won his fourth straight decision to finish the regular season and Scott Rolen homered off Chris Carpenter, helping the Cincinnati Reds keep the St. Louis Cardinals’ postseason plans on hold with a 3-1 victory Tuesday night.

The Cardinals’ magic number for clinching the second NL wild card remained at one with a game to go, and they were left in the uncomfortable position of watching the Dodgers on television and rooting for a loss for the second straight night. Los Angeles, which began the day two games back with two remaining, played at home against the Giants later Tuesday.

Cincinnati, the NL Central champion, remained tied with Washington for the league’s best record. The Reds need a win Wednesday and a Nationals loss to earn home-field advantage throughout the postseason.

The 37-year-old Carpenter (0-2) has a wealth of big-game experience and went 4-0 in the postseason last fall for the World Series champions, memorably outdueling Philadelphia ace Roy Halladay in Game 5 of the NL division series.

Injured most of this season, Carpenter made just his third start of the year gave up a pair of runs in the sixth to snap a 1-all tie. Jay Bruce and Dioner Navarro had RBIs.

Despite the loss, the Cardinals are 11-4 in their last 15 games. They’ll draw Homer Bailey (13-10, 3.75 ERA), coming off a no-hitter, in the regular-season finale, with Adam Wainwright (14-13, 3.94) pitching for St. Louis.

If the Cardinals and Dodgers end up tied, a one-game playoff would be Thursday in Los Angeles, with the winner advancing to the wild-card game Friday in Atlanta.

Latos (14-4) had an abbreviated appearance while freshening up for the postseason and, like teammate Bronson Arroyo a day earlier, worked five innings and threw fewer than 75 pitches. Latos allowed a run on four hits with four strikeouts, all in a span of four at-bats against the bottom of the St. Louis lineup.

The 24-year-old Latos was 4-0 with a 2.27 ERA over his last seven starts and set career highs in starts (34) and innings (209 1-3).

With what was left of an announced crowd of 39,644 standing and hooting, Aroldis Chapman worked the ninth for his 38th save in 43 chances. He has allowed just one hit in four scoreless appearances covering four innings since returning from a nine-game absence due to shoulder fatigue on Sept. 21.

Carpenter gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings while losing for the fifth time in 19 career decisions against Cincinnati. He had seven strikeouts, two more than his total for the first two starts over 11 innings.

The Cardinals stranded two runners in the second and third against Latos and had two on with one out in the seventh before Sean Marshall got pinch-hitter Shane Robinson to fly out and Jon Jay on a broken-bat groundout.

Rolen tied it in the fourth when he jumped on a first-pitch hanging breaking ball for his eighth homer.

Reds manager Dusty Baker played for keeps in the early going. He brought the infield in with a runner on third and one out in the first for Matt Holliday, who hit a sacrifice fly, then intentionally walked eighth-place hitter Pete Kozma with two outs and a man on third in the second inning to get to Carpenter, who grounded out sharply to third.

— Associated Press —

Jaime Garcia homered off Bronson Arroyo and pitched into the seventh inning, helping the St. Louis Cardinals clinch at least a tie for the second NL wild card and spoil Dusty Baker’s return from a mini-stroke with a 4-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday night.

The defending World Series champions have won 11 of 14 and led the Los Angeles Dodgers, playing at home later against San Francisco, by 2 1/2 games. The Cardinals have two games to go, the Dodgers three.

A loss by the Dodgers or another Cardinals win would wrap up a playoff spot for St. Louis and a visit to Atlanta for the wild-card game Friday.

Arroyo (12-10) threw 73 pitches while allowing three runs over five innings in a tuneup for the postseason. He topped 200 innings for the seventh time but is 0-3 in his last four starts.

The Reds are 96-64, tied with the Nationals for the best record in the National League with two games to go, and must finish ahead of Washington to get home-field advantage throughout the postseason after losing the season series.

Before the game, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny was wary and noncommittal about whether the team would stick around and watch the end of the Giants-Dodgers game that could ignite a delayed celebration in an empty stadium.

”I’m not going there yet,” Matheny said. ”We’ve got to win, and I told you guys this before: It’s not some sort of trickery going on, except with my own mind and with these guys, too.

”It’s true, you have to just kind of play it out and don’t get too far ahead of yourself.”

Baker missed 11 games, including the NL Central clincher and Homer Bailey’s no-hitter, while recovering from a stroke in a Chicago hospital that he had while being treated for an irregular heartbeat.

Garcia (7-7) made it 5 for 5 at the plate against Arroyo when he led off the third with a drive that just cleared the right-field wall for his second career homer, although the perfect run ended when he flied out to right to end the fourth.

Garcia gave up six hits, including three singles in a span of four at-bats in the third, with Brandon Phillips getting an RBI. Scott Rolen doubled, advanced on a passed ball and scored on Ryan Hanigan’s sacrifice fly in the seventh.

The lefty has been a major asset at home throughout his career, going 20-11 with a 2.48 ERA at Busch Stadium, the lowest career mark of any pitcher with 10 or more starts, including 4-2 with a 2.82 ERA in nine starts this year. He’s 3-5 with a 5.02 ERA in 11 road starts this year and 14-12 with a 4.47 ERA overall.

Allen Craig and Yadier Molina added an RBI apiece in a three-run third, and Daniel Descalso had an RBI triple in the sixth that made it 4-1. Jason Motte worked a perfect ninth with two strikeouts for his 41st save in 48 chances.

— Associated Press —

The Cardinals closed in on the NL’s second wild-card berth while the Washington 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 St. Louis over the Nationals 10-4 Sunday.

”We’re one step closer, but there’s still a long way to go,” said Mike Matheny, who took over as manager from Tony La Russa after the Cardinals won last year’s World Series. ”We’ve got to keep playing and playing well. The guys came out pushing today against a very good team.”

St. Louis (86-73) took a 7-0 lead by the third inning and holds a two-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers (84-75), who beat Colorado 7-1.

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).

”We’ve had rough outings before,” manager Davey Johnson said. ”We’ve bounced back. It’s better to clinch it at home anyway.”

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.

”Sometimes it happens where you feel from both sides, but most of the time you feel good from one side,” Beltran said. ”But it’s always good to have a day like today where you have a good at-bat on the left and the right side.”

Beltran entered in a 1-for-14 slide that had dropped his batting average to .265.

”As ballplayers, you’re going to go through good stretches and bad stretches,” Beltran said. ”I try not to focus on that. I try to focus on the work that I do, come to the ballpark and prepare myself.”

Matheny knows Beltran has been working hard.

”It’s great to see for him,” Matheny said. ”The guy cares so much and it sometimes isn’t translated in such a workmanlike attitude. It’s really been bother him that he hasn’t been able to step up. Days like today remind us of good he is.”

Lance Lynn (18-7) allowed four runs and six hits in 5 1-3 innings, improving to 5-0 with a 2.10 ERA in his last five appearances.

”We won. That’s all that matters,” Lynn said. ”You try to win series right now and do everything you can to win every game possible.”

Pete Kozma was 3 for 3 with three RBIs, raising his average to .338.

Rookie Bryce Harper hit his 22nd home run for Washington, a solo shot. Danny Espinosa also had a two-run homer for the Nationals.

Detwiler, a St. Louis area native making his first start in his hometown, allowed seven runs – three earned – four hits and five walks in 2 1-3 innings. He set season highs for fewest innings and most walks.

”I just didn’t throw any strikes,” Detwiler said, who threw 43 of 81 pitches in the strike zone. ”You walk five people in two innings, you won’t have much success doing that.”

St. Louis took a 5-0 lead in the second after Yadier Molina and David Freese walked, and second baseman Danny Espinosa booted Daniel Descalso’s grounder, loading the bases. Kozma hit a two-run double down the right-field line, with Descalso thrown out at the plate on Espinosa’s relay from Jayson Werth. Jon Jay’s one-out single made it 3-0, and Beltran homered.

Harper’s homer, Ian Desmond’s RBI double and Espinosa’s two-run homer cut the deficit to 7-4 in the fourth, but Beltran connected off Wang in the bottom half, and Beltran hit an RBI single against Zach Duke.

”The offense did great today,” Lynn said ”I was able to do my job, except for the fourth inning.”

— Associated Press —

Pete Kozma picked a big spot for his first major league home run.

Kozma had two hits and drove in two runs to help Kyle Lohse and the short-handed St. Louis Cardinals win for the sixth time in seven games, holding their lead in the NL wild-card race with a 6-3 win Sunday over the Chicago Cubs.

Minus All-Stars Yadier Molina and Carlos Beltran from the starting lineup, the Cardinals stayed 2 1/2 games ahead of Milwaukee for the second wild-card spot.

Kozma homered in the sixth inning to give his team a 4-2 lead, and added an insurance run with a sacrifice fly in St. Louis’ two-run eighth.

”Every game means something,” Kozma said. ”I feel pretty good getting in there every day and working out the jitters.”

A quick-thinking Cardinals fan, Jeff Barabasz, caught the ball and immediately sat on it. He gave a decoy ball to his 13-year-old son, Matthew, who threw it back onto the field to appease the Wrigley Field faithful.

They met Kozma after the game to return the real home run ball, posing for pictures with the 24-year-old.

”That was pretty cool,” Kozma said. ”It’s also big to help your team out in a big spot.”

Kozma was called up when shortstop Rafael Furcal went down with a strained right elbow at the end of August and has impressed manager Mike Matheny, earning regular playing time.

”I’ve been impressed with the way he moves around shortstop, and he’s taken good at-bats for us,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. ”He’s had tough at-bats. That eight-hole is not an easy place to be. He’s done a nice job with the opportunities he’s had.”

Closer Jason Motte also kept a souvenir from the game after recording his 40th save.

Motte joins Bruce Sutter, Lee Smith and Jason Isringhausen as the only closers in Cardinals history to post a 40-save season.

Motte has six saves in the team’s last seven games.

”If I’m out there converting saves, that means we’re winning,” Motte said. ”That’s what it’s about, it’s about winning.”

Lohse (16-3) made his team-leading 32nd start, giving up three runs and five hits in six innings.

Molina did not play for the defending World Series champions because of lower back spasms, having hurt himself while getting out of the way of a pitch Saturday. The catcher was feeling better, manager Mike Matheny said, still had some discomfort.

Beltran did not start because of what Matheny believed to be food poisoning. The outfielder had a pinch-hit RBI single during a two-run eighth.

He didn’t join the team in the dugout until the fifth inning, and went to the plate without any warm-up swings.

Allen Craig got three hits and drove in two runs for St. Louis.

”The more I watch him, the more I’m impressed,” Matheny said of Craig. ”Everything about him.”

Cubs starter Justin Germano (2-9) worked 5 2-3 innings, giving up four earned runs and 10 hits.

Craig hit a two-run double with two outs in the third and David Freese had an RBI single. St. Louis would have had the bases loaded for Craig, but a baserunning mistake found both Matt Carpenter and Matt Holliday on third base and Carpenter was tagged out.

Alfonso Soriano hit his 31st homer for the Cubs, giving him a career-high 105 RBIs.

”He just keeps going, he’s had to play a lot of games this year with very few days off,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said. ”He’s done one heck of a job — left field, at the plate and everything about this season has been one of his best.”

Chicago got two runs back in the fourth on Welington Castillo’s RBI double and a wild pitch.

— Associated Press —

It was all going so well for St. Louis. Chris Carpenter had a solid 2012 debut and Pete Kozma swiped home for the go-ahead run, putting the Cardinals in position to extend their timely winning streak.

Then it all fell apart in a hurry.

Darwin Barney connected for a tying two-run homer off Fernando Salas with two out in the ninth inning and David DeJesus hit a game-ending single in the 11th to lift the Chicago Cubs to a 5-4 victory on Friday.

DeJesus came to the plate with two out and lined an 0-2 pitch from Joe Kelly (5-6) into right field to score pinch-runner Brett Jackson.

Alberto Cabrera (1-1) struck out two in a perfect 11th to earn his first career victory.

The Cardinals had won four in a row and entered Friday with a 2 1/2-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers for the second NL wild card.

”We got to a two-run lead with two strikes in the ninth, but wouldn’t finish it off,” manager Mike Matheny said.

Carpenter threw five effective innings and was in line for the win until Barney drove a 1-2 pitch from Salas into the left-field bleachers. Salas allowed a single to DeJesus with two outs and nobody on after getting two strikes on him, too.

”I made the pitches I wanted to make,” Salas said. ”It was a fastball in to DeJesus and a soft hit and then Barney was bad luck. He made good contact.”

The Cardinals’ regular closer, Jason Motte, was unavailable after pitching three days in a row and four out of the last five.

”He’s been very, very good for us lately and he’s been in that situation before so it’s a good fit,” Matheny said of Salas. ”You can look at a pitch now and say it should have been somewhere else, but it’s easy to do now.”

Carpenter threw 77 pitches, with a light rain falling throughout the game. The 37-year-old allowed two runs and five hits, struck out two and walked one.

”My stuff wasn’t as sharp as I’d like and it wasn’t as sharp as it’s been in the simulated games,” Carpenter said. ”But I tried to get as many outs as I could and give us a chance. It was fun to get back out there. Hopefully my stuff will get better and sharper as I get out there more often.”

Carpenter went 4-0 in the 2011 postseason, but hadn’t pitched since winning Game 7 of the World Series against the Texas Rangers. He had surgery July 19 to relieve a nerve ailment that caused numbness up and down the right side of his body.

”It was good to have him back out there and obviously he did exactly what we thought he’d do,” Matheny said. ”He competed and made some good pitches and gave us a chance to win.”

Adding his experienced arm to the rotation boosts the Cardinals’ playoff push. The Brewers open a weekend series Friday night against the Washington Nationals, who clinched a playoff berth Thursday.

Carpenter held Chicago scoreless through the first two innings, allowing three baserunners, but the Cubs jumped on him in a two-run third inning.

DeJesus led off the third with a triple and Barney followed with an RBI single. Two batters later, Alfonso Soriano doubled to the left-field corner to tie it at 2.

St. Louis regained the lead in the fourth on a botched suicide squeeze play. Kozma led off with a triple, and was credited with stealing home when catcher Welington Castillo was unable to handle a high-and-tight pitch that Daniel Descalso offered at but could not get down.

It was the Cardinals’ first straight steal of home since Kerry Robinson in 2002.

Yadier Molina’s two-out single got St. Louis on the board in the first inning, and Allen Craig added a sacrifice fly in the third. Matt Holliday reached four times for the Cardinals.

Descalso tacked on an RBI double in the eighth, driving in Matt Carpenter.

Cubs starter Chris Volstad allowed three runs and six hits in five innings.

— Associated Press —

Carlos Beltran appears to be getting his stroke back. Good timing for the St. Louis Cardinals’ final playoff push.

Beltran snapped a sixth-inning tie with a two-run, pinch-hit double and Allen Craig hit a three-run homer, powering the Cardinals to a 5-4 victory Thursday that held their cushion in the NL wild-card race.

The Cardinals lead Milwaukee by 2 1/2 games for the second wild-card spot with 12 games remaining. Los Angeles, which lost 4-1 at Washington, is three back.

St. Louis has won four in a row, capitalizing on a break in the schedule. There’s more sub-.500 opposition ahead in the final trip of the year, with three in Chicago beginning Friday and three more in Houston.

”Our vibe’s four games better,” manager Mike Matheny said. ”That’s about it. We’re really trying to enjoy each one and realize how much we’re putting on each game as a club. Not looking forward to anything except the next one.”

The urgency was reflected in Matheny’s decision to go to Beltran, slumping much of the second half, so early.

”They told me if a situation came up where guys were in scoring position, they were going to use me,” Beltran said. ”So I’m not surprised. The manager is the one making the calls and I just have to be ready when he needs me.”

Beltran’s double put St. Louis up 5-3, rewarding Jaime Garcia (5-7) for keeping it close. They took care of business against the lowly Astros, who absorbed their 102nd loss while leading for a single inning in the three-game series.

The Cardinals were 6-0 at home against Houston, their first season series sweep in St. Louis since 1996.

Houston did its best to hang tough.

”It definitely was a good series for us,” said Justin Maxwell, who had an RBI double and two nice catches in right field. ”We know what they’re playing for over there. We’re not going to hand anything to anyone.”

”We’re going to see them again next week, so hopefully, we can take some games from them,” he said.

Bud Norris (5-13) allowed five runs on five hits and five walks in 5 1-3 innings for Houston after getting sent back to the team hotel Wednesday night because of flu-like symptoms. He’s 0-12 with a 6.34 ERA in 18 starts since May 21 but with a lot of hard luck, too. He’s had eight quality starts in his last 13 outings.

”I wasn’t very good all around,” Norris said. ”I gave it everything I had. It’s been a tough couple of days for me.”

The Cardinals topped 3 million in attendance for the ninth consecutive season and 16th time in franchise history with paid attendance of 34,788.

Craig also doubled and has three homers and 15 RBIs in 11 games against the Astros this year. He’s a career .412 hitter against the Astros with six homers and 24 RBIs in 20 games.

”He comes through in those big situations,” Matheny said. ”He can just flat hit, that’s all there is to it.”

Jason Motte finished for his 38th save in 45 chances and third of the series after the Astros tested the setup men.

Fernando Salas struck out Jose Altuve and pinch hitter Brett Wallace with the bases loaded to end the eighth after Mitchell Boggs and Marc Rzepczynski combined to issue three walks. Edward Mujica surrendered an RBI single to Brandon Barnes in the seventh.

The biggest worry going forward is overloading the bullpen. Motte has pitched in the last five games, and Boggs, the setup man, has worked in three straight since coming back from a minor back ailment.

”Hopefully I’ll feel pretty good tomorrow and I can get back out there,” Boggs said. ”It was just one of those days when they were being pretty patient.

”I certainly felt like I could have gotten a ground ball out of the next guy.”

Norris, who entered the game 4-2 with a 2.93 ERA in St. Louis, walked Daniel Descalso and Pete Kozma with one out in the sixth and was lifted after throwing 111 pitches. Both scored easily on Beltran’s drive off Wesley Wright to the base of the wall in left-center.

Beltran was batting .296 with an NL-leading 65 RBIs at the All-Star break but is hitting just .229 with 24 RBIs since while dealing with a sore right knee and sore right hand. He’s begun to pick it up lately, going 9 for 19 during a six-game hitting streak.

”I’m fine, brother,” Beltran said. ”There’s no excuses. Right now, these days there’s not many ballplayers feeling 100 percent, so I’m good to go.”

Garcia is 2-5 with a 5.67 ERA in 10 road starts, but 3-2 with a 2.84 in eight home starts.

— Associated Press —