CC Sabathia did his part for the Milwaukee Brewers, and the Chicago Cubs did the rest.
Sabathia sizzled on short rest, giving up four hits over seven innings while striking out a season-high 11 and the Brewers rallied past the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2 on Wednesday night to tie the New York Mets in the NL wild-card race.
New York lost 9-6 in 10 innings to Chicago.
“Every game we know is big, no matter who we’re playing, so pretty much right now every game’s a playoff game so you’ve got to go out and try to win any way you can,” Sabathia said. “Every game’s a playoff game, and we’re still breathing.”
The Mets absorbed a heartbreaking loss but also got some help from Atlanta, which beat NL East-leading Philadelphia 10-4. New York remained 1 1/2 games back in the division but it was hardly any consolation after the type of setback that could mean lights out for the season.
The Mets wasted Carlos Delgado’s third-inning grand slam off Carlos Zambrano and a 5-1 lead. Then, they had runners at third base with no outs in each of the last three innings and got only one run out of it – on a bases-loaded walk.
ead double in the 10th inning off Luis Ayala (2-10) and Aramis Ramirez followed with a two-run homer.
In other NL games, it was: Los Angeles Dodgers 12, San Diego 4; St. Louis 4, Arizona 2; Houston 5, Cincinnati 0; Florida 9, Washington 4; and Colorado 15, San Francisco 6.
Sabathia (10-2), who came to Milwaukee on July 7 from Cleveland for four prospects, had his eighth game this season with at least 10 strikeouts and the Brewers are 13-3 when he starts.
Salomon Torres allowed Adam LaRoche’s solo homer in the ninth before finishing for his 28th save.
Paul Maholm (9-9) walked six, and gave up three earned runs and two hits in six innings for visiting Pittsburgh.
It’s hard to conceive of a more demoralizing defeat for New York. Many in the booing crowd of 54,416 quickly filed out following Ramirez’s homer.
“It’s a, as everybody knows, a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately town, and lately we haven’t gotten the job done,” David Wright said.
Following Daniel Murphy’s leadoff triple in the ninth off Bob Howry (7-4), Wright could have won it. He took three straight balls, fouled off a pitch, then missed the next two. Delgado and Carlos Beltran were intentionally walked to bring up Ryan Church, who grounded meekly to Ronny Cedeno. The second baseman, playing in, threw home for the forceout. Ramon Castro struck out on three pitches.
40 chances, giving the Cubs 96 wins for the first time since 1984.
Dodgers 12, Padres 4
Manny Ramirez and Nomar Garciaparra homered, and Los Angeles clinched a tie for their first NL West championship in four years.
The Dodgers’ victory combined with Arizona’s loss at St. Louis gave Los Angeles a four-game lead over the Diamondbacks with four games remaining.
Ramirez, Garciaparra, James Loney and Angel Berroa drove in two runs each for the host Dodgers, who have won 18 of 23 games. Clayton Kershaw (5-5) got the victory.
Mike Ekstrom (0-1) got the loss.
Cardinals 4, Diamondbacks 2
Adam Wainwright pitched out of two bases-loaded jams and St. Louis dampened Arizona’s playoff hopes.
The visiting Diamondbacks stranded 11 runners, and Mark Reynolds struck out once to tie the major league record for strikeouts in a season with 199.
Wainwright (11-3) pitched into the seventh inning, allowing seven hits and five walks. Ryan Franklin worked the ninth for his 17th save.
Max Scherzer (0-4) got the loss.
Astros 5, Reds 0
At Houston, Randy Wolf pitched 6 2-3 strong innings and Lance Berkman hit a two-run homer to keep the Astros’ slim playoff hopes alive.
Houston pulled within 3 1/2 games of the wild card with four games left, trailing New York and Milwaukee for the top spot.
proving to 6-2 in 12 starts since being acquired from San Diego on July 22.
Geoff Geary, LaTroy Hawkins and Doug Brocail pitched the final 2 1-3 innings and allowed only two hits.
Cincinnati’s Ramon Ramirez (1-1) went five innings and allowed two runs and four hits.
Marlins 9, Nationals 4
Hanley Ramirez homered on the game’s first pitch and prospects Cameron Maybin and Gaby Sanchez combined for six hits for Florida, which handed Washington its 99th loss.
Officially eliminated from playoff contention a night earlier, the Marlins gave Sanchez his first major league start and he responded by going 3-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI.
Maybin went 3-for-3 with a sacrifice to raise his average to .500 (14-for-28) with Florida.
Josh Johnson (7-1) wrapped up a strong finish to 2008, with wins in his final three starts. The right-hander went six innings, allowing two runs and six hits.
Washington’s Tim Redding (10-11) turned in his shortest start of the season, giving up seven runs in 2 2-3 innings.
Rockies 15, Giants 6
Clint Barmes homered, doubled in two runs and singled twice and Garrett Atkins hit a three-run homer for visiting Colorado.
olliday added a two-run double to help Livan Hernandez (3-3) defeat his former club.
Jonathan Sanchez (9-12) lost for the eighth time in his last nine decisions.
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