ST. LOUIS (AP) Fortunately for the Milwaukee Brewers, they didnt slip up.
The Brewers clinched their first playoff spot since 2011 by ensuring at least a spot in the NL wild-card game, helped Wednesday night when a rookie St. Louis pinch-runner suddenly fell on his way to the plate in a 2-1 win over the contending Cardinals.
I saw him go down and luckily we were able to put a tag on him and get him out, Brewers reliever Josh Hader said. Ive never seen that before but it was definitely good on our side.
The Brewers (92-67) remained a half-game behind the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs. Milwaukees win also sealed a postseason berth for the Cubs.
Milwaukee began the day 3 ½ games ahead of Colorado for the top wild-card slot. St. Louis (87-71) entered a half-game behind the Rockies for the final wild-card berth.
The Cardinals missed a big chance to tie it in the eighth inning. Matt Carpenter drew a two-out walk and was lifted for pinch-runner Adolis Garcia. Jose Martinez then hit a slow roller to third baseman Mike Moustakas, who threw wildly to first.
Garcia was waved home, but slipped rounding third base and fell halfway to the plate. He got to his feet and had no chance, easily tagged out after second baseman Hernan Perez made a strong throw.
The kids giving you everything hes got, its just unfortunate he fell, Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. Its one of those things that happened. Clearly, it wouldve tied the game but it wasnt for lack of effort. Things happen and he was giving everything he had.
Milwaukee turned that break into a three-game sweep at Busch Stadium. And while the Brewers enjoyed an enthusiastic celebration in their clubhouse, the prospect of catching the Cubs still hung in the air.
We like our chances, but obviously winning the division would be huge, outfielder Ryan Braun said. The wild-card game, no matter how good you are, it is always somewhat of a coin flip. So we have to take care of business. We have to continue to win games and continue to play the way weve played to this point and hopefully find a way to win the division.
Milwaukee advanced to the NL Championship Series in 2011 before being eliminated in six games by the eventual World Series champion Cardinals.
Jhoulys Chacin pitched five strong innings and Travis Shaw hit a pair of RBI singles for Milwaukee.
When youve got games left still and youve got something to play for theres stuff ahead of us, but you do this to enjoy what youve accomplished, Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. We know that weve made the playoffs, we have a chance to play in the playoffs and we have three big games left.
Chacin (15-8), who had lost his last three decisions, gave up one run on just one hit over five innings. He needed a season-low 60 pitches and faced three batters over the minimum.
We definitely caught a break there, it was a strange play, Counsell said of the Garcia fall. We pitched really well tonight. Chacin was brilliant. It was just a really well played game.
Xavier Cedeno, Corbin Burnes, Hader and Jeremy Jeffress combined for four shutout innings as the Brewers held the Cardinals to a season-low two hits. Jeffress earned his 13th save in 18 chances.
