David Freese had a season-high five RBIs, three of them on a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning, and the St. Louis Cardinals rallied for a 6-5 win over the New York Mets on Wednesday at Busch Stadium to gain a game in the National League wild-card race.

The Cardinals pulled within 1 1/2 games of the Atlanta Braves, 4-0 losers at Florida on Wednesday. St. Louis has won 12 of 14.

Freese started the scoring with a two-run triple in the first and he added an even bigger hit with two outs in the seventh, taking Pedro Beato the other way for a three-run blast to right.

Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia (13-7) allowed four runs – all unearned – over 7 2/3 innings to improve to 3-0 in four September starts.

New York leadoff man Jose Reyes went 1-for-4 to keep his average at .330 and pull even with Milwaukee's Ryan Braun for the NL lead. Braun went 0-for-4 Wednesday against the Chicago Cubs.

Albert Pujols went 2-for-4 for St. Louis. He has reached base in 37 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the majors.

New York's Willie Harris hit a two-out, solo home run off Jason Motte in the ninth before Motte struck out Josh Thole for his eighth save, all of which have come in September.

The Mets (73-82) are assured of their third consecutive losing season. They have lost nine of 11 to drop a season-worst nine games below .500.