St. Louis ? Facing Chris Carpenter was the last thing the New York Mets needed.

Carpenter became the first 21-game winner in the major leagues, Albert Pujols homered twice, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the fading Mets, 5-0, Thursday night.

New York has lost 10 of 12 following a 9-2 stretch, falling to 70-70. The Mets, on the verge of taking the wild-card lead Aug. 31 before Pedro Martinez faltered against Philadelphia, have lost eight of nine since then and dropped 51â2 games back of Houston, which leads the wild-card chase.

“We’ve got to see if we can get something going,” Mets manager Willie Randolph said. “Obviously, we’ve picked a bad time to go into a little swoon, and it’s hurting us.”

St. Louis cut the magic number for clinching its second straight NL Central title to 10, beating the Mets for the ninth straight time at Busch Stadium.

Carpenter (21-4) allowed three hits in seven innings.

Cubs 5, Giants 3

San Francisco – Nomar Garciaparra hit a tiebreaking two-run double in the seventh inning, and Carlos Zambrano struck out his last five batters in Chicago’s sixth road victory in seven games.

Padres 3, Rockies 2, 10 innings

San Diego – Robert Fick singled in the winning run with two outs in the 10th, and NL West-leading San Diego beat Colorado to climb one game above .500. The Padres (70-69), who entered the night six games ahead of San Francisco, took two of three from last-place Colorado.

Marlins 8, Nationals 4

Washington – Josh Beckett hit his first career home run, and Miguel Cabrera and Juan Pierre drove in three runs each to lead Florida over Washington.

Pirates 8, D’backs 7, 12 innings

Pittsburgh – Humberto Cota singled home the winning run in the 12th inning, and Pittsburgh overcame Tony Clark’s two homers and five RBIs to end a 10-game home losing streak with a victory over Arizona.