CHICAGO _ And now the waiting begins for the Cubs after they failed to cut their magic number for winning the National League Central from two, losing to the Cardinals, 2-1, on Saturday at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs lead the division by a half-game over the Brewers, who can pull even with a victory against the Tigers Friday night in Milwaukee.
Miles Mikolas pitched eight innings of five-hit ball, and the Cubs' early missed opportunities caught up to them.
Cole Hamels hit No. 7 hitter Harrison Bader and walked No. 8 batter Yairo Munoz to open the fifth and set up an RBI single by Matt Carpenter to score the go-ahead run.
Mikolas improved to 18-4, including 10-0 on the road .Munoz dropped a pop in shallow right field by Javier Baez that enabled Ben Zobrist to score from first with two outs in the first and give the Cubs a 1-0 lead.
But Zobrist and Kris Bryant lined into double plays to end the third and fourth innings, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals took advantage of a catcher's interference call on Victor Caratini that allowed Carpenter to reach first to open the fourth. Carpenter scored the tying run on a single by Paul DeJong.
Mikolas limited opponents to three runs or fewer in 15 of his last 18 starts. He was 3-0 in four starts against the Cubs this season.
Left-hander Cole Hamels (4-2, 2.47) retired the first nine batters and allowed only three hits in seven innings.
