Cubs Slip By Pirates, Cardinals Edge Brewers

Jake Arrieta's streak of winning starts ended Wednesday night in Pittsburgh. No matter. The Chicago Cubs did what they've done every time Arrieta has pitched over the past six weeks: They won.

Pinch runner Quintin Berry raced home on Anthony Rizzo's sacrifice fly in the top of the 12th inning, and the Cubs slipped by the Pirates 3-2.

"A bunch of young guys kept playing and eventually got it done," Chicago manager Joe Maddon said. "That to me, in that dugout, that dugout was absolutely electric tonight. It was beautiful."

Arrieta's bid to become the first 20-game winner in the majors went along smoothly before he wavered in the eighth as Pittsburgh rallied to tie it. Arrieta allowed two runs, one earned, and six hits but received a no-decision after winning eight consecutive starts since Aug. 4.

Not that he cared much after the Cubs drew within three games of the Pirates for the top spot in the NL wild-card race despite an errant throw to first in the sixth that gifted Pittsburgh a run and a jam in the eighth he couldn't quite escape unscathed as the Pirates tied the score at 2-all.

Cardinals 5, Brewers 4

Call this one Phamtastic! Tommy Pham homered twice and tripled, Matt Carpenter added a solo shot and Jaime Garcia went 6 1/3 innings to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night.

The Cardinals increased their lead in the NL Central to four games over the Pirates, who lost 3-2 to the Chicago Cubs.

Pham's two-run shots came in the second and the fourth off Milwaukee starter Wily Peralta (5-9). It was the rookie's third and fourth home runs of the season and first multi-homer effort in 43 career games over this season and last. He was recalled from Triple-A Memphis on August 17 when Randal Grichuk went on the disabled list with a right elbow strain.

White Sox 9, Athletics 4

The White Sox were looking to bounce back from a lopsided loss. One big inning did the trick.

Mike Olt homered and Melky Cabrera had a two-run double as part of a six-run fourth inning to help Chicago beat the Oakland Athletics 9-4 on Wednesday night.

Chicago's scoring burst in the fourth came a night after the White Sox allowed 10 runs in the fourth inning during an 11-run loss.

In this game, the White Sox hit three home runs to help Erik Johnson (2-0) to his second straight win. He gave up three runs and six hits over six innings.

Wednesday, September 16 Scoreboard

Chicago Cubs 3, Pittsburgh 2 (F/12)

Boston 10, Baltimore 1

Washington 12, Philadelphia 2

Cleveland 5, Kansas City 1

Toronto 9, Atlanta 1

Miami 6, New York Mets 0

New York Yankees 3, Tampa Bay 1

Texas 14, Houston 3

Chicago White Sox 9, Oakland 4

St. Louis 5, Milwaukee 4

Detroit 7, Minnesota 4 (F/12)

San Diego 4, Arizona 3

Seattle 3, Los Angeles Angels 1

Los Angeles Dodgers 2, Colorado 0

San Francisco 5, Cincinnati 3

Thursday, September 17 Schedule (All Times Central)

Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh, 11:35 a.m.

Oakland at Chicago White Sox, 1:10 p.m.

Miami at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

Kansas City at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m.

Toronto at Atlanta, 6:10 p.m.

Baltimore at Tampa Bay, 6:10 p.m.

Houston at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

St. Louis at Milwaukee, 7:10 p.m.

Los Angeles at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.