ST. LOUIS (AP) - The St. Louis Cardinals blew a four-run lead in the ninth inning and hurt their wild-card hopes when shortstop Rafael Furcal misplayed a potential double-play grounder, allowing the New York Mets to rally for an 8-6 win Thursday.
Ahead 6-2, the Cardinals walked three batters in helping the Mets take the lead with a six-run burst. Willie Harris drew a walk to begin the inning and capped it with a tiebreaking, two-run single with two outs.
The loss dropped St. Louis two games behind idle Atlanta for the wild card. Each team has six games left.
San Francisco is also in the hunt. The Giants are 3.5 games behind the Braves heading into the finale of a three-game series at Los Angeles Thursday night at 10:10 p.m. ET.
The Braves will open a three-game series at Washington on Friday, then wrap up the regular season with a three-game series at home against Philadelphia next week. The Cardinals will end the regular season with a three-game series at home against the Chicago Cubs, and on the road at Houston.
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
