If Thursday's loss to the New York Mets will be remembered as the meltdown that cost the Cardinals their shot at the postseason, then Friday was the letdown.

It all but assured this September surge will come to a sour end.

Alfonso Soriano's three-run homer off Cardinals reliever Kyle McClellan snapped a 1-1 tie and carried the Chicago Cubs to a 5-1 victory in front of 40,355 at Busch Stadium. The loss, McClellan's first as a reliever this season, officially eliminated the Cardinals from the division race and awarded the National League Central title to the Milwaukee Brewers, their first title in 29 years.

The Atlanta Braves won 7-4 in Washington and pushed their lead in the wild-card chase to three games ahead of the Cardinals (86-71). With five games remaining in the regular season, Atlanta (89-68) has to win two to assure a one-game playoff at the least. Three wins and the Cardinals are extinguished.

Two games ago they trailed by 11/2 games.

They lost a lead in both games since.

"It's running out of time, and it definitely is harmful," manager Tony La Russa said. "We thought we had to win this series to have a shot. That means we have to win (the next two). It's an irritating game. A lot of things are irritating when you have so much at stake."

Chris Carpenter shepherded the Cardinals to the tie game through seven innings. He provided that lone run for the Cardinals on a squeeze bunt in the second inning, and then the righty handed the tie game to the bullpen. Rocked for six runs in the ninth inning Thursday as the Mets overturned a four-run deficit for an 8-6 win, the Cardinals' relievers remained strained, but McClellan was rested. Two days removed from his last appearance, McClellan took over to start the eighth inning.

Darwin Barney jumped him for a leadoff triple. An intentional walk to Carlos Pena one out later put runners at the corners for Soriano. Derek Lilliquist visited McClellan on the mound to, in La Russa's words, tell him not to offer a strike. Owner of the richest contract on the Cubs' roster, Soriano had one homer in seven previous at-bats against McClellan (12-7).

Make that two.

Soriano got a strike and launched a 403-foot homer into the Cubs' bullpen to break the tie and possibly douse the Cardinals' playoff hopes.

"It just wasn't a good pitch," McClellan said. "He's a good hitter. I've had my struggles with him in the past, and they continue."

The Cardinals doomed themselves offensively with three double plays, each of which came with more than one runner on base. The three double plays put the Cardinals one away from tying the National League record set 53 years ago. La Russa started runners and called for hit-and-runs several times to avoid the double play and trigger a rally against Cubs starter Ryan Dempster.

Two worked, but the three double plays sabotaged rallies.

"It's just execution," said third baseman David Freese, who hit into a double play to end the third inning with two runners on. "To win ballgames you have to execute. Here lately we've put on a good run. Now is not the time to not get it done. We haven't had one of these nights in a while. It's unfortunate that it happens because it puts us in an extreme hole."

Carpenter not only kept the Cubs from scoring through five innings, he provided all of the Cardinals' scoring at the same time. On the second pitch he saw from Dempster in the second inning, Carpenter dropped a suicide squeeze down the first base line. The bunt allowed Skip Schumaker to race home from third and put the Cardinals ahead 1-0.

The derring-do was necessary after the Cardinals put the first two runners of the inning on base and were about to leave the inning empty-handed.

Yadier Molina led off with a single to center field, and Schumaker, making his first start in left field of the season, clubbed a double to the wall in center. With two runners in scoring position and none out, second baseman Ryan Theriot slapped a high-bounding grounder that Dempster snared. Molina was caught straying too far from third and tagged out by the Cubs' pitcher. The potential big inning fell to Carpenter, the No. 9 hitter, to revive their chances.

He did so with the club's first successful suicide squeeze of the season.

Carpenter's bunt brought in the only run the Cardinals scored against Dempster despite the Cubs starter inviting trouble. The righty walked six and allowed 10 baserunners in his six innings of work, but the Cardinals aided his cause with two double plays, including one that sabotaged the sixth inning.

The Cardinals received two walks from Dempster and a base hit from Molina to load the bases with one out. Up came Theriot again with a chance to break the game open for the Cardinals, and instead he edged them ever closer to a National League record. Theriot knocked a grounder to third that the Cubs spun into a 5-2-3 double play.

Though the Cubs had tied the score by the time Carpenter was done, they had less to work with than the Cardinals. Carpenter allowed one run on five hits and walked two. Twice Carpenter retired the Cubs in order, and until they reached him for a run in the sixth inning the Cubs were unable to get a runner past second base. Pena tied the game with a one-out double to right field that scored Barney. A lineout to third base ended that inning and eased Carpenter to his seventh quality start in his previous nine games.

"Keep playing," Carpenter said. "We started this run weeks ago. Everybody counted us out long ago. We battled back to give ourselves a chance. We battled all year long to be proud of what our season was all about. We continue to do that."