Phillies 4, Braves 3 (13)
Hunter Pence plated Brian Schneider with an RBI single in top of the 13th inning as the Philadelphia Phillies put an end to the Atlanta Braves' postseason aspirations with a 4-3 victory on Wednesday.
Earlier Wednesday, the St. Louis Cardinals cruised to an 8-0 triumph over the Houston Astros and secured the National League wild card berth with the Braves' loss. Ironically, the Cardinals will face the NL East champion Phillies in a division series beginning Saturday.
Although staked to an 8 1/2-game lead in the wild card on Sept. 5, Atlanta limped down the stretch to fall for the 13th time in 18 games.
After Chase Utley advanced Schneider to third with a single to right field, Pence fisted an offering from Scott Linebrink (4-4) just past the reach of second baseman Dan Uggla.
Rookie Justin De Fratus (1-0) was credited with his first career win after one inning of scoreless relief. David Herndon worked the 13th and got rookie Freddie Freeman to ground into a double play to end the game.
Ryan Howard collected his 116th RBI with a run-scoring double for Philadelphia.
Uggla belted a two-run homer and former Phillie Michael Bourn had three hits for Atlanta.