NATIONAL LEAGUE
Second baseman Clint Barmes made a diving catch to start a game-ending double play, preserving the Colorado Rockies’ 4-3 victory over the St Louis Cardinals on Sunday.
Huston Street earned his first six-out save in three years and the Rockies remained 2.5 games ahead of surging Atlanta in the NL wild-card race.
Colorado’s victory also kept the Los Angeles Dodgers’ magic number at two for clinching the NL West title.
One day after St Louis wrapped up the NL Central crown, the Rockies received four scoreless innings of work from four relievers to preserve the win for Jorge De La Rosa (16-9), who was removed after the fifth.
Colorado trailed 3-2 heading into the fifth, but Carlos Gonzalez hit a tying RBI double and Todd Helton’s single put the Rockies ahead.
BRAVES 6, NATIONALS 3, 10 INNINGS
At Washington, Atlanta scored three in the top of the 10th inning, keeping up their late-season surge and completing a three-game sweep over the Nationals.
Brian McCann drove in a run with a groundout, and pinch-hitter Omar Infante followed with a two-run single as the Braves ran their winning streak to six. They’ve also won 10 in a row on the road — their longest such streak in more than 15 years — and are a season-high 15 games over .500 entering the final week of the season.
Mike Gonzalez (5-4) picked up the win in relief for the Braves.
PIRATES 6, DODGERS 5
At Pittsburgh, right fielder Andre Ethier misplayed Lastings Milledge’s two-run single for an error that allowed the winning run as Pittsburgh rallied for four in the ninth inning to prevent Los Angeles from clinching the NL West title.
The Dodgers went ahead 5-2 by scoring three runs in the top of the ninth against Matt Capps (4-8), only to let the Pirates stage their best rally of a dismal season in which they are four losses from losing 100 games.
Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton (7-2) recorded just one out in the ninth, yielding four runs, three earned, and four hits.
GIANTS 5, CUBS 1
At San Francisco, Matt Cain pitched eight scoreless innings and Eli Whiteside had a pair of RBI doubles to lead San Francisco to the victory.
Eugenio Velez, Juan Uribe and Pablo Sandoval each had two hits and drove in a run for the Giants, who had lost six of eight. San Francisco remained five games behind NL wild card-leading Colorado with six games left.
Cain (14-7) gave up three hits, struck out eight and walked two.
Also on Sunday, it was:
• Mets 4, Marlins 0
• Phillies 6, Brewers 5
• Astros 3, Reds 2
• Diamondbacks 7, Padres 4
AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI
Zack Greinke pitched out of trouble for seven innings to bolster his AL Cy Young Award chances and Yuniesky Betancourt hit a three-run homer, helping Kansas City win their home finale against Minnesota 4-1 on Sunday.
Greinke (16-8) worked out of a bases-loaded jam with no outs in the third and escaped two other tight spots to drop his major league-best ERA to 2.06. Joakim Soria got six outs, inducing a groundout by Joe Mauer with two on in the ninth for his 29th save in 32 chances.
Minnesota remained two games behind the first-place Tigers in the AL Central. The teams began a four-game series in Detroit last night.
WHITE SOX 8, TIGERS 4
At Chicago, Carlos Quentin hit a three-run homer in his second straight game and rookie Daniel Hudson earned his first major league victory as Chicago beat Detroit for their third win in 11 games.
Also on Sunday, it was:
• Angels 7, Athletics 4
• Rays 7, Rangers 6
• Blue Jays 5, Mariners 4
• Indians 9, Orioles 0
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