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Around the NL Central: September 5 Edition

New and notes from around the Central:

 

Yesterday's action:

  • The Crew completed the sweep in Houston behind a stellar outing from Shaun Marcum and big flies from Ryan Braun and Jon Lucroy. Here's our recap of Milwaukee 4, Astros 0.
  • Cincinnati did the Brewers a big favor by swiping a 3-2, 10-inning victory from St. Louis at Busch Stadium. The Reds jumped on Cards' starter Edwin Jackson for two runs in the first on Edgar Renteria's two-run homer, but St. Louis got one run right back on Jon Jay's one-out homer in the bottom of the inning. The Cards knotted the game at 2 in the fourth on Daniel Descalso's triple, and the score remained tied until the 10th, when Juan Francisco ripped an RBI single to plate Chris Valaika with the winning run. CoCo Cordero put the Cardinals down in order in the 10th to notch his 30th save on the year.
  • Chicago salvaged a game in its series with Pittsburgh, taking a 6-3 victory in the finale at Wrigley Field. The Cubs scored single runs in the third and fourth innings to take a 2-1 lead, then tacked on two more in the fifth on Marlon Byrd's sac fly and Koyie Hill's RBI groundout. The Bucs crept within two on Neil Walker's two-run blast in the eighth, but the Pirates got no closer: Byrd restored the Cubs to a three-run margin with an RBI single in the eighth, and Sean Marshall fanned two in the ninth to record his fourth save of the season.

Your updated standings for September 5:


W L GB Last 10 Streak Elimination #
Brewers
84 57 -- 6-4 W3 --
Cardinals 74 66 9.5 7-3 L1
13
Reds 69 71 14.5
5-5 W1 8
Pirates 64
76 19.5 3-7 L1
3
Cubs 60 80 23.5 3-7 W1 Done
Astros 47 93 36.5 5-5 L3 Done

 
The Wild Card race looks like this right now:


W L GB Last 10 Streak
Brewers*
84 57 -- 6-4 W3
Braves
82 57 1.0 5-5 W1
Cardinals 74 66 9.5 7-3 L1
Giants 73 67 10.5
4-6 L2
Reds 69
71 14.5 5-5 W1

 
And here are the playoff participants, if the season ended today:


W L GB Last 10 Streak
Phillies (East) 88 48 -- 6-4 L1
Brewers (Central)
84 57 6.5 6-4 W3
D-backs (West)
80 60 10.0 9-1 W2
Braves (Wild Card)
82 57 7.5
5-5 W1

 

On tap for today:

  • The Crew and Cardinals begin their final series of the year at 3:15 p.m. CDT, when Randy Wolf (11-9, 3.58) takes on Jake Westbrook (11-7, 4.72).
  • The Pirates and Astros open a series in Pittsburgh at 12:35 p.m. CDT. James McDonald (8-7, 4.11) faces Henry Sosa (2-2, 4.34) in the opener.
  • The Reds visit Wrigley Field to kick off a three-game series with the Cubs at 1:20 p.m. CDT. Dontrelle Willis (0-4, 4.10) battles Matt Garza (7-10, 3.64) in game one.