Cardinals Pull Closer in Wild-Card Race

Mark McGwire hit a two-run homer and Darryl Kile won for the first time in almost a month as the St. Louis Cardinals closed the gap in the National League wild-card race with an 8-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers Monday night at Milwaukee.

Kile (14-10) gave up nine hits in six innings to win for the first time since Aug. 12. He was 0-3 in his previous four starts.

St. Louis (79-64) pulled within a half-game of San Francisco (80-64), the wild-card leader, and moved within five games of Houston, which leads the NL Central. The Cardinals play their remaining 19 games against division opponents, including six with the Astros.

Kile pitched out of trouble in each of the first five innings. He stranded runners at second and third in the first and second, and left the bases loaded in the fourth. In the third, right fielder J.D. Drew threw out Geoff Jenkins at home for the final out.

McGwire hit his 24th homer in the second, a 445-foot shot off the bottom of the scoreboard in center. Half of McGwire’s 48 hits are home runs.

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Chicago 8, Cincinnati 2--Roosevelt Brown went three for four and drove in four runs, and Jon Lieber won his 18th game as the Cubs ended their five-game losing streak at Chicago.

Ron Coomer and Joe Girardi each had two runs batted in for the Cubs, who closed within 11/2 games of San Francisco in the wild-card race.

Lieber (18-6) tied Randy Johnson for the third-most wins in the National League behind Curt Schilling and Matt Morris, and improved to 4-0 with a 0.93 earned-run average in four starts against the Reds this season.

He gave up two runs and four hits in seven innings and struck out seven.