PITTSBURGH: Matt Carpenter raced home to break a scoreless tie in the ninth inning when two Pittsburgh outfielders mishandled Jon Jay’s single, and Mark Reynolds followed with a two-run homer to lift the St. Louis Cardinals to a 3-0 win over the Pirates in Major League Baseball on Monday.

The Cardinals can clinch their third straight NL Central title with a victory at Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

In the bottom of the seventh, Cardinals outfielder Stephen Piscotty was carted off the field following a violent collision with teammate Peter Bourjos. The team said Piscotty was taken to the hospital with a head contusion and he would be held overnight for observation.

The Pirates remained 3½ games ahead of the Chicago Cubs for the first National League wild-card position.

The Cubs beat the Kansas City Royals 1-0 after pinch-hitter Chris Denorfia led off the 11th inning with a home run.

The race for the final American League wild card got tighter, meanwhile, with Houston, the Los Angeles Angels and Minnesota all winning. The slumping AL West-leading Texas Rangers, meanwhile, lost their third straight game, a 7-4 defeat to Detroit.

Texas has a 1½ game lead over Houston for the AL West division title, while the Astros lead the Angels by a half-game for the second wild-card spot. Minnesota is a game behind the Angels.

In Seattle, Chris Carter drove in the go-ahead run with Houston’s third solo homer and rookie Lance McCullers pitched effectively into the seventh inning as the Astros beat the Mariners 3-2.

Carter broke a 2-all tie in the seventh with his 23rd home run. McCullers (6-7) allowed two runs and four hits in six-plus innings.

The Angels got their sixth straight win when pinch-hitter David Murphy drove a bases-loaded single into left field to beat Oakland 5-4.

Albert Pujols tied it with his 558th career homer in the sixth inning for the Angels, who have won nine of 11 during their MLB-best 17-8 performance in September

Minnesota’s emergency starter Tommy Milone replaced an ill Phil Hughes and pitched the Twins to a 4-2 win over Cleveland.

Hughes, one of several Twins players hit with a virus that has spread throughout the team, was scratched about four hours before the game. Milone (9-5), removed from the rotation two weeks ago, stepped in and allowed two runs in 5 2-3 innings.

Texas, meanwhile, matched its longest losing streak since mid-August.

Justin Verlander allowed one run in six innings and Tyler Collins’ three-run home run sparked a five-run fifth inning to lead the Tigers to victory.

In other American League games, Toronto inched closer to clinching the AL East title, getting a homer from Edwin Encarnacion and scoring a ninth-inning run to secure a 4-3 comeback victory over Baltimore.

With its fifth straight victory, Toronto increased its lead over the New York Yankees in the division to five games with six to play. The Yankees, who are currently in the first AL wild card spot, fell to Boston 5-1.

The Yankees had a chance to clinch their first playoff appearance since 2012 with a win — what would’ve been their 10,000th franchise victory — but Travis Shaw and Jackie Bradley Jr. each hit a two-run homer off Ivan Nova (6-10) to put the Red Sox ahead.

In San Francisco, Zack Greinke and the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers were denied a playoff-clinching party for at least another day, losing to the Giants 3-2 on pinch-hitter Alejandro De Aza’s 12th-inning sacrifice fly.

With the Dodgers employing a five-man infield, De Aza hit a fly to left against Adam Liberatore for a victory that prevented San Francisco from being eliminated from the pennant race.

Los Angeles lost its fourth straight game and is five games ahead of the Giants with six to play.

Elsewhere, Washington right-hander Max Scherzer came within five outs of his second no-hitter of the season in the Nationals’ 5-1 win over Cincinnati.

Washington closer Jonathan Papelbon was earlier suspended for the Nationals’ final seven games after fighting with teammate Bryce Harper in a game Sunday and dropping his appeal of a Major League Baseball ban for throwing at an opponent’s head last week.

Yogi Berra funeral to be televised on Yankees TV network

Yogi Berra will be remembered by family and friends at a private funeral in the New Jersey town where he and his wife raised their family.

But the service at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Montclair, N. J. will be televised live on the Yankees’ YES Network available on cable and satellite TV beginning at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

The baseball legend and American treasure known for his quirky sayings died Sept. 22. He was 90.

His family released a statement saying they know he is at peace with his wife, Carmen, who died last year.

Gov. Chris Christie has ordered flags on state government buildings lowered to half-staff in Berra’s honor.