DENVER — The Colorado Rockies put a damper on Matt Holliday's homecoming along with the hopes of all the teams chasing them for the NL wild card.

Yorvit Torrealba's sacrifice fly scored Troy Tulowitzki with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth and the Rockies edged the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-1, last night, snapping a two-game skid.

That prevented the Cardinals from becoming the first team in the majors to clinch their division and kept the Rockies 3 1/2 games ahead of Atlanta in the NL wild card.

The Cardinals still had a chance to celebrate in the clubhouse later last night, but the Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants, 3-0, keeping St. Louis' magic number at one.

The Giants and Marlins both fell five games behind Colorado in the wild card. Florida lost to the Mets.

After holding Holliday to a 1-for-4 performance in which he stranded five runners, the Rockies sent the meat of their lineup to the plate in the bottom of the ninth.

Todd Helton led off with a walk off Trevor Miller (4-1), who was replaced by Kyle McClellan. Tulowitzki reached on a fielder's choice, and Jason Giambi's pinch-hit single put runners at the corners.

Torrealba lofted a ball to right, and Ryan Ludwick's throw home was nowhere close.

"When I saw the right fielder kind of backing up that's when I thought, 'OK that's deep enough,' " Torrealba said after knocking in his 13th run this month after entering September with 14 RBIs.

These teams could meet in the playoffs and the Rockies are 5-0 against the Cardinals this season and have outscored them 35-10.

The one, however, could have gone either way.

"It was a very good game with a fine line," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "They had the last hero."

Huston Street (4-1), one of the players Holliday was traded for last winter, picked up the win with a scoreless ninth.

Holliday, making his first visit to Coors Field as a member of the opposition, slipped out of the clubhouse after the game without comment.

The Rockies, who lead the majors with 59 sacrifice flies, scored both runs that way.

Carlos Gonzalez, another player who came over from Oakland in the trade for Holliday, led off the bottom of the first with a double, was bunted over and scored on Helton's deep fly to center off Chris Carpenter.

Carpenter gave up one run and five hits in seven innings, but the only support he received was Ludwick's 21st homer in the seventh off Jose Contreras that tied the game at 1.

The Cardinals had a scare in the eighth when Albert Pujols limped around the first-base bag after hitting a single. He said it was only a cramp.

CUBS 3, GIANTS 0

Carlos Zambrano (9-6) threw a two-hitter, his first complete game since his no-hitter last season, and drove in two runs as visiting Chicago beat San Francisco and Tim Lincecum (14-7), who lasted seven innings, giving up two runs and seven hits.

PIRATES 3, DODGERS 1

Brandon Moss' two-run single broke a 1-all tie in the bottom of the third inning and Pittsburgh used five pitchers to beat Los Angeles, whose magic number for repeating as the NL West champion remained at four.

BREWERS 8, PHILLIES 4

Prince Fielder hit his 43rd homer and drove in four runs to become the major league leader for RBIs with 136, powering host Milwaukee over Philadelphia, whose magic number for clinching the NL East title remained at four.

BRAVES 4, NATIONALS 1

Javier Vazquez (15-9) allowed a run and three hits in his third complete game of the season, and visiting Atlanta scored on an error and Garrett Anderson's RBI single in a two-run first, which was enough to beat Washington.

METS 6, MARLINS 5

Pinch-hitter Cory Sullivan delivered a go-ahead, two-run, bases-loaded single in the top of the ninth inning off closer Leo Nunez (4-6) as New York held on to beat Florida.

REDS 10, ASTROS 4

Joey Votto drove in four runs with a homer and a double, Jay Bruce had a homer and double, and Juan Francisco went 3 for 5 to lift visiting Cincinnati over Houston for its fifth straight victory.

PADRES 4, DIAMONDBACKS 0

Kevin Correia (12-10) tossed a six-hitter for his first career shutout and Adrian Gonzalez had two hits and drove in a run as visiting San Diego beat Arizona to improve to 34-21 since July 28, the third-best record in the majors in that span.