ST. LOUIS: San Diego’s Will Venable hit a two-run homer in the top of the 11th inning to give the Padres a 5-3 win at St. Louis on Thursday, further eroding the Cardinals lead in the National League.

The Cardinals once imperious lead in the NL standings has been sliced to a still handy six games ahead of nearest rival Pittsburgh, which kept up the pressure by completing a three-game sweep at Detroit.

In the American League, Minnesota produced a shutout victory at Kansas City to close within 3-1/2 games of the Royals in the Central Division, while Texas beat Baltimore to drop the Orioles into a tie for the East division lead.

San Diego’s Venable had been 1 for 17 at the plate this season when coming off the bench, but came up with the key hit in the 11th on the first pitch from Cardinals reliever Carlos Villanueva (3-3).

The run came after the Padres successfully challenged a ruling after Clint Barmes shot to right field just touched the foul line as Jason Heyward made an unsuccessful attempt at a sliding catch. The reversal resulted in a ground-rule double, and Venable then followed with his homer.

Pittsburgh’s Francisco Liriano pitched seven scoreless innings in a rare victory over Detroit as the Pirates beat the Tigers 8-4.

Liriano (5-6) came into the game with a 1-9 record in his previous 14 games against Detroit, including 11 starts.

Neil Walker had his second straight four-hit game for Pittsburgh and drove in three runs.

Tigers manager Brad Ausmus was ejected in the fifth inning for arguing a called third strike.

Minnesota’s Kyle Gibson pitched the first eight innings of a shutout to guide the Twins to a 2-0 win at Kansas City.

Gibson (6-6) stranded a pair of runners in the eighth before turning the lead over to Glen Perkins, who remained perfect in 26 save attempts.

Danny Santana and Eduardo Escobar had RBI triples for the Twins, who handed the Royals a fourth straight loss.

Texas’ Leonys Martin ended a scoreless stalemate with an RBI single in the ninth inning to give the Rangers a 2-0 win against Baltimore.

After Shin-Soo Choo led off the ninth with a walk against Chaz Roe (2-1) and moved up on a bunt, Martin ended a 4-for-34 slump with a single to put the Rangers ahead, and increased the advantage when he scored himself on a single by Rougned Odor.

Rangers starter Yovani Gallardo went six innings to extend his run of scoreless frames to 29 1/3; the longest in the majors this year.

Chicago’s Jonathan Herrera drove in three runs with a squeeze bunt and homer that gave the Cubs a 6-1 win at New York, completing a three-game sweep of the punch-less Mets.

The Cubs beat the Mets for a team-record ninth time in a row, and finished 7-0 against them this season.

Chicago starter Jake Arrieta (8-5) pitched eight sharp innings, helping extend the Cubs’ shutout string to 25 innings before the Mets managed their only run of this series. Arrieta walked none and struck out seven.

New York has scored just 23 runs over its past 14 games.

Atlanta’s Cameron Maybin drove in the go-ahead run with a chopper that bounced over third base in the ninth inning, lifting the Braves to a 2-1 victory over Washington.

Pedro Ciriaco began the Atlanta ninth with an infield single, ending a string of 10 retirements in a row by Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer (9-6). He advanced to second on a sacrifice and scored on Maybin’s single.

Scherzer struck out nine in his third complete game in his past four starts. He is 3-1 with a 1.05 ERA during the dominant stretch.

Boston’s David Ortiz and Hanley Ramirez had consecutive homers in an eight-run first inning, which set up the Red Sox for a 12-6 victory over Toronto.

Cleveland’s Mike Aviles homered on the first pitch of the 10th inning, giving the Indians a 5-4 victory against Tampa Bay and a four-game sweep.

Miami pitcher Jose Fernandez threw six innings and hit a homer in his return from Tommy John surgery and helped the Marlins beat San Francisco 5-4 for a three-game sweep.

Oakland’s Scott Kazmir pitched eight scoreless innings to steer the Athletics past Seattle 4-0.

Arizona’s David Peralta had a tiebreaking, two-run triple with two outs in the sixth inning and the Diamondbacks went on to beat Colorado 8-1.

Milwaukee’s Adam Lind hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the 11th inning to lift the Brewers past Philadelphia 8-7 to complete a four-game sweep.