St. Louis Cardinals Sweep Nationals, Magic Number is 1

The St. Louis Cardinals have swept the Washington Nationals with this afternoon’s 4-1 victory.
Sep 23, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Trevor Rosenthal (26) is congratulated by catcher Yadier Molina (4) after closing out the ninth inning against the Washington Nationals at Busch Stadium. St. Louis defeated Washington 4-3. Image Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
With losses by the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds, the magic number has been lowered to one game to clinch the National League Central division title.

Today marked the last time this season that Cards fans felt uncomfortable rooting for the Chicago Cubs to help us in the division standings.

Rookie second baseman Kolten Wong certainly understood that when he tweeted following the Cardinals game.

Shelby Miller got the start and pitched six solid innings. He started the seventh but was soon removed from the game. He picked up his 15th and probably last win of the regular season.

Seth Maness, Kevin Siegrist, Carlos Martinez, and Trevor Rosenthal all pitched in relief for the Cards. Rosenthal picked up his third save of the season–his second in consecutive games.

With two runs scored, including his 17th home run of the season, Matt Adams was easily offensive player of the game.

The Cards went on the board in the third inning when Matt Carpenter grounded out but drove in Daniel Descalso.

In the fourth inning, Yadier Molina knocked in Matt Holliday and Adams. Adams went yard in the sixth inning.

The Cardinals, Pirates, and Reds are all off on Thursday. The Reds host Pittsburgh. Whoever wins two of those three games will host the Wild Card playoff game. The Cardinals need to win one game to clinch the division.