Pinch-hitter Scott Spiezio hit a bases-loaded triple with two outs in the eighth inning and the St. Louis Cardinals cut their magic number for clinching the NL Central to one, rallying past the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2 Saturday.
The Cardinals won for only the third time in 11 games, putting them on the verge of their third straight division title. Their late-season tailspin had threatened to be one of the biggest September collapses in major league history.
Second-place Houston played at Atlanta on Saturday night. A loss by the Astros would eliminate them.
Spiezio had been 1-for-20 as a left-handed pinch-hitter before clearing the bases on an 1-2 pitch from closer Francisco Cordero. Spiezio batted for light-hitting catcher Yadier Molina.
Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter, who's faltered in his last two starts, opposes Carlos Villaneuva on Sunday. St. Louis might have to play a makeup game against the Giants on Monday if it's necessary to decide the division.
Albert Pujols singled for his second hit to lead off the eighth against Jose Capellan and went to third on Scott Rolen's double with one out. Brian Shouse (1-3) intentionally walked Juan Encarnacion to load the bases.
Pujols passed up a chance to get the Cardinals on the board when he went halfway down the line on Ronnie Belliard's line out to right off Cordero for the second out. Spiezio's fourth triple made that decision academic.
Cordero has blown his last two save chances after starting with 16 in a row with the Brewers. He was attempting his first five-out save since joining Milwaukee.
Pinch-hitter Jeff Cirillo's two-run single, his 1,000th hit with Milwaukee, had put the Brewers ahead.
Tyler Johnson (2-4) pitched a scoreless eighth and fellow rookie Adam Wainwright got the last three outs for his third save in five chances.
Cirillo grounded a single up the middle with the bases loaded in the seventh off Jeff Suppan. Geoff Jenkins and Corey Hart hit consecutive one-out singles and Suppan walked eighth-place hitter Mike Rivera on four pitches with two outs.
Suppan had two of the Cardinals' seven hits against Ben Sheets, who pitched six scoreless innings. In seven innings he allowed two runs on five hits with two strikeouts and three walks.
Sheets lost to the Cardinals on Sept. 19, the day before they lost the first of seven in a row, and is now 4-13 lifetime against St. Louis. He struck out seven and walked one, and in his last two appearances allowed two runs in 14 innings.
Sheets struck out the side in the sixth but needed a fourth out after Jim Edmonds reached on a third-strike wild pitch in the dirt to put runners at the corners with one out. Sheets recovered to strike out Belliard and then got Molina on a grounder.
Pujols' diving catch of David Bell's liner to first helped Suppan escape trouble in the second. Jenkins hit a leadoff double but was stranded on third.
Notes: Encarnacion, who is 1-for-20 against Sheets, did not start after getting four hits on Friday ... The Brewers are 26-54 on the road, second worst in the NL. ... The Cardinals are 39-41 against the Central.
© The Canadian Press, 2007
