Adron Chambers' first major-league hit brought home the winning run in the 11th inning as the St. Louis Cardinals continued their late push toward the postseason with a 4-2 road triumph over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday.
Albert Pujols collected four singles and Tyler Greene added an RBI double in the 11th inning for St. Louis, which has won eight of its last nine to keep the pressure on both the division and wild-card leaders.
St. Louis moved within 3 1/2 games of the wild card-leading Atlanta Braves, who were trounced 12-2 by the New York Mets. The Cardinals remained 5 1/2 games behind the National League Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers, who posted a 6-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Friday.
The night wasn't a total loss for the Phillies. The Braves' defeat clinched them at least a share of their fifth straight division title.
After Rafael Furcal led off the 11th inning with a double, Chambers brought him home with a sharp single in his second-major league at-bat. Greene promptly doubled the advantage with an RBI double.
Carlos Ruiz tied the game with a two-out double in the ninth for Philadelphia.
Kyle McClellan (12-6) worked a scoreless inning of relief to pick up the win, while rookie Michael Schwimer (1-1) allowed both 11th inning runs to take the loss.
St. Louis | Philadelphia | |
Jaime Garcia | Player | Vance Worley |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
7.0 | IP | 6.0 |
4 | Strikeouts | 5 |
5 | Hits | 6 |
1.29 | ERA | 1.50 |
St. Louis | Philadelphia | |
Albert Pujols | Player | John Mayberry |
4 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 1 |
0 | HR | 0 |
4 | TB | 3 |
1.000 | Avg | .400 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
St. Louis | 14 | 1 | 19 | .326 | 24 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 1 |
Philadelphia | 7 | 0 | 10 | .175 | 16 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 |