Moss, Diaz Connect as Cardinals Beat Cubs

By ESPN

Brandon Moss decided the best way to work out of his slump was to go to the tape.

A day off spent analyzing video did the trick for the veteran St. Louis infielder.

Moss bounced out of a three-week skid with a tiebreaking home run and Aledmys Diaz connected in his return to the starting lineup, leading the Cardinals to a 4-2 win over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night.

St. Louis ensured that the runaway Cubs won't clinch the NL Central at Busch Stadium. Chicago's magic number is three, and the series wraps up Wednesday.

The Cardinals remained a half-game behind the New York Mets for the second wild-card spot.

Moss entered the game mired in a 1-for-41 skid. When given Monday off by manager Mike Matheny, Moss chose to pour over video of his better at-bats rather than swing in the batting cages.

"I went in the cage and worked and worked and nothing seemed to come from it," Moss said. "Yesterday was much more video than anything.

It helped."

Matheny was glad to see that the day off did the trick.

"He responded well," Matheny said. "It was a bad rut, but he worked himself through."

Moss slammed a two-run homer in the sixth off Jason Hammel (14-9).

The Cubs' Dexter Fowler led off the game with a home run against Jaime Garcia.

Alex Reyes (2-1) won with 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Kevin Siegrist got his second save.

White Sox 8, Indians 1

The decisive inning took so long that Jose Quintana got stiff watching from the dugout and retreated to the batting cages to play catch.

When he returned, he had all the support he needed to hand the division-leading Cleveland Indians another ugly loss.

Todd Frazier and Carlos Sanchez each drove in two runs in a seven-run sixth inning, and the Chicago White Sox routed the Indians 8-1 on Tuesday night.

"I was trying to stay loose," Quintana said of the 10 to 12 extra throws. "They scored a lot of runs, so then I just wanted to throw strikes."

The White Sox had seven hits, drew two walks and sent 12 batters to the plate against three pitchers in their highest-scoring inning of the season. The Indians, who have allowed 19 runs in two games, maintained a six-game lead over Detroit in the AL Central after the Tigers lost to Minnesota 8-1.

"We're going to lose games," Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor said. "The way we're losing games is not right."

Quintana (12-10) held Cleveland to five hits over eight innings, including Brandon Guyer's solo homer in the second in Chicago's fifth win in seven games.

Tuesday, September 13 Scoreboard

New York Yankees 3, Los Angeles Dodgerse 0

New York Mets 4, Washington 3 (F/10)

Pittsburgh 5, Philadelphia 3

Tampa Bay 6, Toronto 2

Baltimore 6, Boston 3

Minnesota 8, Detroit 1

Miami 7, Atlanta 5

Cincinnati, 6 Milwaukee 4

Oakland 5, Kansas City 4

Chicago White Sox 8, Cleveland 1

Texas 3, Houston 2

St. Louis 4, Chicago Cubs 2

Arizona 11, Colorado 4

Seattle 8, Los Angeles Angels 0

San Diego 6, San Francisco 4

Wednesday, September 14 Schedule (All Times Central)

Tampa Bay at Toronto, 11:37 a.m.

Chicago Cubs St. Louis, 12:45 p.m.

San Diego at San Francisco, 2:45 p.m.

Los Angeles Dodgers at New York Yankees, 3:05 p.m.

New York Mets at Washington, 3:05 p.m.

Baltimore at Boston, 6 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Philadelphia, 6:05 p.m.

Minnesota at Detroit, 6:10 p.m.

Miami at Atlanta, 6:10 p.m.

Milwaukee at Cincinnati, 6:10 p.m.

Oakland at Kansas City, 6:15 p.m.

Cleveland at Chicago White Sox, 7:10 p.m.

Texas at Houston, 7:10 p.m.

Colorado at Arizona, 8:40 p.m.

Seattle at Los Angeles Angels, 9 p.m.