Johnny Cueto's complete game helps Giants beat Cardinals 6-2

SAN FRANCISCO - Fist-pumping Johnny Cueto pitched a five-hitter and retired his final 17 batters, and the San Francisco Giants gained ground in the playoff race with a 6-2 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night.

The Cardinals’ loss clinched the NL Central title for the Chicago Cubs.

Hunter Pence hit a two-run homer, Cueto (16-5) had a go-ahead sacrifice fly and Angel Pagan followed with an RBI single. Denard Span added a two-run single in the seventh for San Francisco.

The Giants gained a game on the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers, who are ahead by four after losing at Arizona.

San Francisco also moved a game in front of the idle New York Mets and two up on the Cardinals in the chase for the two NL wild cards.

St. Louis opened a 10-game road trip, its last of 2016.

Cueto struck out seven and walked one in his fifth complete game, tying Chris Sale of the White Sox for most in the majors. Cueto threw 105 pitches in a game that was done in 2 hours, 33 minutes.

He outdueled fellow right-hander Adam Wainwright (11-9), and the offense delivered a day after the Giants were swept by the San Diego Padres in a lackluster three-game series.

Cueto allowed Randal Grichuk’s RBI single in the fourth. But with the Giants’ closer-by-committee struggles, he gave the bullpen a much-needed break.

This marked the fourth regular-season matchup between Cueto and Wainwright dating to the San Francisco right-hander’s time in the NL Central with Cincinnati. Cueto beat Wainwright for the second time this season after a June 3 win.

San Francisco skipped batting practice as manager Bruce Bochy gave his club a mental break and some time off tired legs in mid-September.

Span was dropped to eighth in the order in an effort to get his bat going.

Wainwright intentionally walked Span in the fourth with runners on second and third to bring up Cueto, who hit a sacrifice fly for the go-ahead run.

PLAYOFF VIBE

Former Giants catcher and current Cardinals manager Mike Matheny recognized the crisp air and was reminded of all the thrilling playoff series St. Louis has played in recent years at AT&T Park. The Giants beat the Cardinals in the NL Championship Series in 2012 and ‘14, going on to win the World Series each time.

“It hasn’t worked out real well a lot of times for us here, so we’d like to change that part of it,” Matheny said. “It just seems like that postseason feel because of the excitement.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Giants: 3B Eduardo Nunez returned to the lineup after missing three games with tightness in his back.

Cardinals: SS Aledmys Diaz was out of the lineup. He came off the disabled list Sunday after being out since July 31 with a broken right thumb. Matheny said Diaz will be re-evaluated before today’s game.