By R.B. FALLSTROM
updated 4:38 p.m. ET Sept. 24, 2011
ST. LOUIS - The Cardinals kept their faint wild-card hopes alive when Carlos Marmol forced home the tying run with a bases-loaded walk to Ryan Theriot with two outs in the ninth inning and followed with a game-ending wild pitch, giving St. Louis a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday.
After losing consecutive games to the New York Mets and Cubs, the Cardinals began the day three games back of the wild-card leading Atlanta Braves. St. Louis plays the Cubs again Sunday, then closes with three games at Houston.
Jason Motte (5-2) got two outs for the win when St. Louis ended a string of 15 consecutive scoreless innings.
Marmol (2-6) blew a save for the 10th time in 44 opportunities.
Rodrigo Lopez worked six scoreless innings and Andrew Cashner and Sean Marshall each worked a perfect inning before the Cardinals' rally that began with a single by Matt Holliday and a pair of two-out walks to Yadier Molina and Skip Schumaker.
Theriot walked on a full count. Marmol started Rafael Furcal with a ball, then threw the next pitch in the dirt to the backstop as pinch-runner Adron Chambers scored standing up.
Holliday returned after a nine-game absence due to an injury to his right hand and Furcal was back at shortstop after committing a crucial error on a potential double-play Thursday, sparking the Mets' six-run rally. Furcal had made five errors in six games.
The Cubs bunched three of their six hits in the first, including Alfonso Soriano's RBI single off Kyle Lohse.
Lohse had a season-high eight strikeouts and didn't allow a runner in scoring position his last six innings, retiring 10 in a row at one point. He has allowed 17 first-inning runs this year.
Albert Pujols walked in the sixth and has reached safely in 40 consecutive games, breaking a tie with Johnny Damon for the longest in the majors this season.
NOTES: Attendance of 42,571 was the Cardinals' best since a turnout of 43,960 on July 31, also against the Cubs. ... Edwin Jackson (12-9, 3.85 ERA) faces the Cubs for the third time since joining the Cardinals in late July in Sunday's home finale, opposing Randy Wells (7-5, 5.09). Jackson is 2-1 with a 3.60 ERA overall this year against the Cubs. ... Soriano has 27 RBIs in his last 28 games. He's batting .386 (17 for 44) against Lohse with three homers and 11 RBIs. ... Lance Berkman singled in the sixth and has a 12-game hitting streak. ... Cubs CF Marlon Byrd robbed Skip Schumaker in the seventh, charging to make a diving catch.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Cardinals beat Cubs 2-1 on wild pitch in 9th
??The Cardinals kept their faint wild-card hopes alive when Carlos Marmol forced home the tying run with a bases-loaded walk to Ryan Theriot with two outs in the ninth inning and followed with a game-ending wild pitch, giving St. Louis a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday.
Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/44649569/ns/sports-baseball/
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