Braun homer in 13th sinks Cardinals

ST. LOUIS : Ryan Braun homered off Lance Lynn with one out in the 13th inning, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 on Friday night.
Braun’s shot gave him his fifth straight 100-RBI season and further frustrated the few hundred fans still around nearly seven hours after the scheduled start.
The start was delayed by rain for 2 hours, 20 minutes, long enough to cause one lineup scratch. Cardinals No. 3 hitter Matt Holliday was set to return after a game out with lower back pain followed by a day off but was scratched as a precaution.
Braun set a franchise record for 100-RBI seasons, breaking a tie with Cecil Cooper and Prince Fielder, with his 199th career homer of Lynn (13-7) into the mostly empty left-field stands on a 1-1 pitch.
Giants 5 Dodgers 2: In San Francisco, Marco Scutaro hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the seventh inning and the San Francisco Giants beat the rival Dodgers 5-2 to extend their NL West lead to 5½ games over Los Angeles.
After Angel Pagan drew an intentional walk from Josh Beckett (1-2) to load the bases, Scutaro followed with a bloop single to shallow right.
San Francisco (78-60) won its fourth straight against Los Angeles after a sweep at Dodger Stadium from Aug. 20-22. The Giants lead the division by 5½ games for the first time since ending the 2003 season with a 15½-game cushion. They have two more chances with a sellout home crowd this weekend to create further distance from the Dodgers.
Padres 6 D-backs 5: In San Diego, Chase Headley drove in four runs on two home runs, including a solo shot leading off the eighth inning that lifted the San Diego Padres to their seventh straight victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks, 6-5.
Coming off a hot August in which he had 10 homers and 31 RBIs to win NL Player of the Month honors, Headley extended his career highs to 26 home runs and 98 RBIs.
After the Diamondbacks rallied from a 5-0 deficit to tie the game in the eighth, Headley opened the bottom of the inning with a shot to straightaway center field off David Hernandez (2-3).
In the third, Headley hit a monster three-run homer that almost landed in the giant paint can in left field at Petco Park.
Cubs 12 Pirates 2: In Pittsburgh, Travis Wood gave up just one hit over six innings and the Chicago Cubs stopped a six-game losing streak with a 12-2 win over the mistake-prone Pittsburgh Pirates, who made seven errors in their worst defensive night in over a quarter-century.
Wood (5-12) ended an eight-game skid of his own, striking out five and walking three to win for the first time in more than two months.
Starlin Castro had three hits, including the 500th of his career, and drove in four runs for the Cubs. Alfonso Soriano added three hits and three RBI as Chicago took full advantage of one of the worst defensive nights in Pittsburgh’s 130-year history.
The Pirates had not made seven errors in a game since 1985 and finished one shy of the club record set in 1939. It was the first seven-error game in the majors since Atlanta in a 2004 loss to Colorado.

Phillies 3 Rockies 2: In Philadelphia, Nate Schierholtz hit an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Philadelphia Phillies to a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
Pinch-hitter Laynce Nix hit a tying, two-run double in the seventh, and the Phillies won for the 10th time in 14 games.
Jimmy Rollins walked off Will Harris (1-1) to start the bottom of the ninth. Rollins advanced to second on Juan Pierre’s sacrifice. After Chase Utley was intentionally walked, both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Schierholtz then hit a sharp grounder to right field past a drawn-in infield.
Astros 5 Reds 3: In Cincinnati, Matt Dominguez hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning that broke Aroldis Chapman’s streak of 27 consecutive saves and powered the Houston Astros to a 5-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
Chapman (5-5) took a 3-2 lead into the ninth, but had his club-record streak broken by a player swinging with a sore left hand.
Tyler Green and J.D. Martinez singled off Chapman with one out. Dominguez, out of the starting lineup because of the sore hand, hit Chapman’s second pitch for his second career homer and the fourth off the hard-throwing left-hander this season.
Braves 3 Mets 0: In New York, Paul Maholm and the Braves bullpen combined to give Atlanta three straight shutouts for the first time in exactly a decade, and the NL wild-card leaders beat the New York Mets 3-0.
Coming off two 1-0 wins over Colorado, the Braves’ staff stretched its scoreless streak to 28 innings. Atlanta last pitched three straight shutouts on Sept. 4-7, 2002, according to STATS LLC.
Jason Heyward hit his 25th homer in the fourth inning and Dan Uggla also connected.
This weekend marks Chipper Jones’ last trip to New York to play the Mets, an opponent he has often wrecked in the past. The Mets presented the retiring 40-year-old star with a pricey piece of 3-D artwork as part of his farewell tour, while the crowd responded with its usual boos.
Jones went 0 for 4.