The Associated Press

MONTREAL—Nomar Garciaparra scored the go-ahead run on Claudio Vargas' wild pitch in the 11th inning and Mark Grudzielanek added an RBI single to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 2-1 win over the Montreal Expos on Wednesday night.

Garciaparra hit a one-out single off Vargas (5-5) in the 11th. Sammy Sosa singled one out later, and Ramon Martinez walked to load the bases.

Vargas bounced his next pitch in the dirt and past catcher Brian Schneider, allowing Garciaparra to come home with the game's first run.

Grudzielanek singled to center to make it 2-0, but center fielder Endy Chavez threw Martinez out at the plate to end the inning.

LaTroy Hawkins (4-4) allowed Chavez's RBI grounder in the bottom half of the inning but held on for the win in two innings of relief.

Chicago, which claimed two of three games from the Expos after being swept at home by Houston over the weekend, began the day tied with San Francisco for the National League wild-card lead.

Both starters contributed stellar efforts.

Kerry Wood rebounded from his worst outing of the season, striking out 11 while scattering five hits in eight innings. It was the fourth time this season he has reached double digits in strikeouts, and the 41st time in 159 career starts.

Wood allowed eight runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings in a 15-7 loss to Houston on Saturday.

Montreal had runners at first and third with one out in the sixth yet failed to score. Wood struck out Brad Wilkerson and, with Chavez at the plate, Cubs catcher Michael Barrett's quick throw caught Henry Mateo off first base to end the threat.

Expos starter Tony Armas Jr. allowed four hits in six scoreless innings, his longest outing in his last six starts. He struck out three and walked one.

Cardinals 4, Padres 2

Chris Carpenter pitched seven innings of six-hit ball and St. Louis got first-inning homers by Larry Walker and Scott Rolen on the way to its fifth straight win.

Albert Pujols homered for the third straight game and Reggie Sanders had a pair of doubles for the NL Central leaders, who have won 10 of their last 12 games and will go for a sweep of the three-game series against the Padres, in contention for the NL wild-card spot, today. St. Louis is 32-6 against San Diego the last six seasons, including 18-2 at home.

Braves 7, Phillies 2

Andruw Jones and Chipper Jones each hit a solo homer, and Jaret Wright pitched six strong innings to help Atlanta to a sweep of the two-game series.

The Braves hold a 13½-game lead over the third-place Phillies in the NL East. The teams were tied for first in the division after splitting a two-game series July 19-20.

Wright (14-6) won his third straight start and improved to 12-1 since May 27. He walked none, struck out five and improved to 3-0 this year against Philadelphia.

Marlins 5, Mets 4

Paul Lo Duca hit a go-ahead, two-run single in the sixth inning, Mike Lowell homered and Florida won its sixth straight game.

The Marlins won for the ninth time in 11 games to move seven games over .500 for the first time since June 23.