ST. LOUIS -- Adam Wainwright earned his 200th win, pitching seven innings of four-hit ball in a vintage performance as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 1-0 on Monday night.
It was the longest outing this season for the 42-year-old Wainwright (5-11), who struck out three and walked two. He has won consecutive starts -- both against first-place teams -- after going 0-10 with a 10.72 ERA over his previous 11 games between June 24 and Sept. 7.
The right-hander became the 38th pitcher in NL history to reach 200 wins, and the 24th major leaguer to achieve the milestone since 2000.
Willson Contreras homered off Freddy Peralta (12-9) in the fourth. Milwaukee lost its second straight and its magic number to clinch the NL Central remained at seven. The Brewers hold a six-game lead over the Chicago Cubs with 12 to play.
John King induced a double play in the eighth and Ryan Helsley worked 1 1/3 innings for his 12th save in 16 opportunities.
Wainwright got Carlos Santana to ground into a pair of double plays and left to a standing ovation from the crowd of 33,176 after pitching around a leadoff single by Mark Canha in the seventh.
Wainwright's first strikeout of the game, against Rowdy Tellez, was the 2,200th of his career. His last two punchouts moved him past David Wells for 65th on the all-time list.
Contreras lined a sinker from Peralta just inside the left-field foul pole for his 20th home run of the season.
Peralta gave up four hits in six innings and struck out six.
Sal Frelick had two singles for the Brewers and robbed Tommy Edman of an extra-base hit with a running catch in deep center field. Frelick caught the ball on a full sprint and held on after crashing into the wall.
METS 2, MARLINS 1 Jeff McNeil hit a tiebreaking homer leading off the ninth inning and New York Mets knocked Miami out of playoff position. Mark Vientos had an RBI single and José Butto pitched six stingy innings to help the fourth-place Mets play spoiler again with their second consecutive win over a postseason contender. New York also beat the Cincinnati Reds at home on Sunday. Miami fell a half-game behind the idle Chicago Cubs for the third and final National League wild card. Cincinnati is also a half-game in front of the Marlins after defeating Minnesota on Monday night.
PHILLIES 7, BRAVES 1 Kyle Schwarber hit a 483-foot, two-run homer, and Philadelphia went deep four other times to back Zack Wheeler in a win over Atlanta. Schwarber's 45th long homer of the season gave the Phillies a six-run lead in the sixth, a drive that cleared the top of the Chop House restaurant in right field at Truist Park. It was the second-farthest ball hit at the home of the Braves and the second-longest homer by Schwarber in his career, 5 feet shy of the ball he hit off Yu Darvish in the NL Championship Series at San Diego last year. Philadelphia opened a 3 1/2-game lead over Arizona for the top NL wild card. Atlanta lost its fourth straight but was assured a bye in the Wild Card Series and home-field advantage in the Division Series when Milwaukee lost 1-0 at St. Louis. Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Nick Castellanos and Johan Rojas also homered to send the major league-leading Braves to their fourth straight loss.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
ROYALS 6, GUARDIANS 4 Drew Waters hit a go-ahead double during a two-out rally in the eighth inning Monday, and host Kansas City rallied to beat Cleveland in their series-opening matinee. The Royals trailed 4-2 when Kyle Isbel drew a leadoff walk against Trevor Stephan. The reliever retired the next two batters before walking MJ Melendez and hitting Nelson Velázquez, loading the bases for Michael Massey, whose own walk off Stephan (6-7) scored a run to get Kansas City within one. Cleveland brought in Enyel De Los Santos to face Waters, and his double to left gave the Royals the lead. A wild pitch from De Los Santos allowed Massey to score and give Kansas City's bullpen a cushion.
RED SOX 4, RANGERS 2 Rob Refsnyder hit a go-ahead two-run single in the eighth inning and Boston Red Sox snapped a four-game losing streak with the win over playoff-chasing Texas, which lost its fourth in a row even after getting two All-Star players back in their lineup. Boston rallied against reliever Will Smith (2-7), who walked No. 8 batter Luis Urias and then gave up a double that snapped No. 9 batter Connor Wong's 0-for-17 slide. Refsnyder's one-out hit that made it 3-2 came after Rafael Devers, with 10 hits his previous 21 at-bats, was intentionally walked. Adam Duvall followed with a sac fly.
INTERLEAGUE
REDS 7, TWINS 3 Rookie Connor Phillips pitched three-hit ball over seven innings for his first major league win, Will Benson drove in three runs and host Cincinnati beat Minnesota in a game with postseason implications for both teams. Cincinnati (79-73) won for the fifth time in seven games and trails Chicago (78-72) by .0003 for the NL's final wild-card berth, both a half-game behind Arizona (79-72). Miami (78-73) dropped a half-game behind the Reds with a 2-1 loss to the New York Mets. Minnesota (79-72), nearing its third division title in five years, maintained a seven-game lead over second-place Cleveland in the AL Central with 11 games left. Phillips (1-0), a 22-year-old right-hander, hadn't gotten past five innings in either of his first two big league starts. He gave up solo homers by Royce Lewis in the fourth and Alex Kirilloff in the seventh. Phillips matched his season high with seven strikeouts and walked one.
WHITE SOX 6, NATIONALS 1 Mike Clevinger pitched a six-hitter for his third career complete game, and visiting Chicago beat Washington. Luis Robert Jr. hit a three-run homer for Chicago, which improved to 5-12 in September. Tim Anderson had four of the team's 15 hits. Clevinger was working on a shutout before Dominic Smith hit his 10th homer with two out in the ninth inning. Smith walked slowly to first while watching the shot to right-center, and then flipped his bat. Clevinger (8-8) apparently took exception and exchanged words with Smith, prompting benches to clear in an incident that didn't escalate beyond shouting. Clevinger then struck out Carter Kieboom for the final out. Washington was eliminated from postseason contention with the loss.
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright throws as Milwaukee Brewers' Josh Donaldson, right, warms up in the on-deck circle during the second inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Richie Palacios is unable to catch a double by Milwaukee Brewers' Willy Adames during the fourth inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Freddy Peralta during the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright throws during the second inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright (50) gets a fist bump from catcher Willson Contreras as the head to the dugout after warming up before the start of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright throws during the second inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright celebrates after getting Milwaukee Brewers' Carlos Santana to ground into a double play ending the top of the sixth inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Freddy Peralta during the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)