Multiple sources are reporting that the Houston Astros will make the switch to the American League with the sale of the team to Jim Crane completed.

Chris Carpenter and the St. Louis Cardinals completed one of baseball's greatest comebacks, clinching the NL wild card Wednesday night with an 8-0 win over Houston and a later loss by Atlanta.

The Cardinals got their playoff spot when the Braves fell to Philadelphia 4-3 in 13 innings.

St. Louis trailed Atlanta by 10½ games on Aug. 25. The Cardinals won 23 of their last 31 games.

The Cardinals will open the postseason on Saturday at NL East champion Philadelphia. In the other NL playoff matchup, Arizona visits Milwaukee.

Carpenter (11-9) struck out 11 and allowed two hits in his 15th career complete-game shutout as St. Louis kept up its improbable September charge.

"We had nothing to lose. We were already out of it," Carpenter said. "People were telling us we were done. We decided to go out and play and not embarrass ourselves and do what we can. We played ourselves back into it."

The Cardinals poured onto the field after Carpenter fielded J.D. Martinez's weak grounder for the final out. The celebration was brief and muted, as the team raced into the clubhouse to watch the end of the game in Atlanta.

"It was exciting, there's no doubt about it," Carpenter said. "The way these guys have played the past month and a half has been amazing, every single night grinding, playing their butts off, not giving up.

"We continued to give ourselves an opportunity and now we are here."

The teams entered Wednesday's regular-season finales with 89-72 records.

Atlanta's game started an hour earlier, but the Cardinals virtually took away any hope for a Houston victory in the first inning of their contest, jumping to a 5-0 lead against Brett Myers (7-14).

Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman drove in runs with singles, and David Freese doubled to left-center before Myers even recorded an out. Berkman scored when Skip Schumaker's hard grounder ricocheted off Myers' glove for an infield hit, and Freese came home on Nick Punto's single to right.

Carpenter handled the rest.

He had struggled at Minute Maid Park lately, going 0-3 with a 4.62 ERA in his last five starts here, but he was in total command from the start on Wednesday, striking out five of the first nine hitters he faced. He also had an RBI single in the third to drive in Freese, who reached base when right fielder Brian Bogusevic dropped his fly ball for an error.

Freese led off the fifth with a double to right-center, the Cardinals' 10th hit of the game. Myers, 4-0 with a 1.24 ERA in his last five starts, hadn't allowed more than nine hits in a start since Aug. 6.

Freese later scored on Schumaker's groundout to shortstop Clint Barmes for a 7-0 lead, equaling the most runs given up by Myers in 33 starts this season. Wilton Lopez replaced Myers for the start of the sixth.

As the Astros batted in the seventh, the left-field scoreboard posted a 3-3 tie in the Phillies-Braves game, prompting a roar from the large contingent of Cardinals' fans in the stands behind the St. Louis dugout.

Carpenter then struck out Bogusevic and Jimmy Paredes to wrap up another easy inning. Allen Craig hit a solo homer in the ninth off Lance Pendleton.

The Cardinals huddled around a television in the clubhouse cafeteria after their victory.

Only three weeks ago, the Cardinals had virtually lost all hope.

"There was absolute doubt from us," Punto said. "I remember early on in September, we were like, 'Let's just finish up strong for the fans. Let's give them something to come out and watch.'

"When you're 10½ games out, that's a hole you can't climb out of," he said, "unless you get a lot of help."

The Cardinals were loose and relaxed -- and confident -- before the game.

Champagne was ordered for a potential postgame celebration and someone wrote, "Happy Flight! After Game" on a marker board in the clubhouse.

Game notes
Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said LF Matt Holliday (right hand injury) and SS Rafael Furcal (left hamstring) were unavailable on Wednesday night. ... Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan rejoined the team after missing more than a month to tend to his ailing wife. Jeanine Duncan is recovering from surgery on Aug. 21 to remove a brain tumor. Dave Duncan, La Russa's trusted assistant since the early 1980s, did not know how long he would be able to stay with the club because his wife has more medical appointments scheduled. ... The sparse crowd offered a standing ovation to Astros owner Drayton McLane after a video tribute was shown on the giant scoreboard between the second and third innings. McLane is still waiting for Major League Baseball to approve his sale of the team to Houston businessman Jim Crane for $680 million. General manager Ed Wade said before Wednesday's game that McLane still has the final say on all baseball decisions.

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One after another, the hits kept on coming for the Colorado Rockies.

One double, one triple, four homers and 19 singles sprayed around Minute Maid Park.

"This was one of those special days when everything lined up and we came out on top," Chris Iannetta said Sunday after the Rockies set a team record with 25 hits in a 19-3 rout of the Houston Astros. "You can't really tell what's going to happen. Even if you score five or six runs, you never know if it's going to keep going."

Jordan Pacheco, Ty Wigginton and Tommy Field had four hits each for the Rockies, who broke the previous team mark of 24, accomplished most recently in a 16-4 win at Pittsburgh on Aug. 2, 2003.

Kevin Kouzmanoff and Iannetta each drove in five runs.

"I wouldn't have thought, with no disrespect meant, that it would have been done with the patched up lineup that we have," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. "But we swung the bats today. We executed with runners at third."

Kouzmanoff had a sacrifice fly in the fifth, then hit two-run homers in the seventh off Lance Pendleton and the eighth against Xavier Cedeno. Three batters later, Iannetta hit a three-run drive.

Kevin Millwood (4-3) hit a two-run homer off Pendleton in the sixth, Millwood's second of the season and fourth of his big league career.

"It's cool they did it when I was pitching," Millwood said. "It's nice get a bunch of runs on the board. It doesn't make the game easier but it makes my plan simpler."

Millwood just wanted to get his batters back on the field quickly.

"I feel good I was able to keep those guys down and have some quick innings," he said. "With the offense putting up that many runs, it makes my job easier."

The 16-run margin of defeat tied the Houston record, accomplished five times previously, according to STATS LLC. The only other time at home was a 17-1 loss to the Mets on Aug. 30, 1999.

The 19 runs allowed matched the second-most in franchise history, trailing only a 22-7 loss at the Chicago Cubs on June 3, 1987. It also was the second-most hits allowed behind 26 in an 18-2 defeat at Cincinnati on Aug. 3, 1989.

"We tried to stop the dike, and we couldn't do it," Astros manager Brad Mills said. "It got away and we tried to come back, but we kept getting behind in the count and giving up chances to swing the bat a little bit. Something like this is never fun."

Houston, a major league-worst 55-104, finishes with a three-game series against St. Louis, which headed to Texas one game behind Atlanta in the NL wild-card race.

Millwood didn't allow a hit after the third inning and retired 13 of his last 14 batters. He gave up one run -- unearned -- and three hits in seven innings.

Colorado won its second straight after stopping a nine-game losing streak.

Lucas Harrell (0-2), starting because Bud Norris has biceps tendinitis, allowed five runs -- three earned -- and seven hits in three innings.

"It's definitely tough," Harrell said. "I saw guys hit good pitches. It was one of those days where they were hitting it well. Everything they were hitting found a hole. They couldn't do anything wrong."

Game notes
Rookie Chris Nelson became the second player in Colorado's history to drive in the game-winning run on an extra-inning, bases-loaded walk in Saturday night's 4-2, 13-inning victory. ... Colorado's Eric Young has 26 steals this season, including 22 since his recall on July 22.

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Trying to move closer toward a personal goal, Bronson Arroyo took matters into his own hands.

Arroyo pitched a six-hitter and the Cincinnati Reds wrapped up their home schedule Wednesday with a 2-0 win over the Houston Astros.

Arroyo takes pride in pitching 200 innings a season, as he has done in each of the past six seasons. With two starts left, he was 18 innings short and needed two complete games to reach the milestone.

One is in the books.

"I've said my whole career, I'd like to come in one day and have the manager tell me I have nine innings, even if I give up 14 runs," Arroyo said. "Durability is the mark of a starting pitcher."

Arroyo has had a frustrating year, setting a team record by allowing 44 home runs. That's four short of the NL record and six shy of the major league mark.

"People were talking about taking him out of the rotation so he didn't break the home run record," manager Dusty Baker said. "I'm glad for him. It's been a tough year for him. He's a man. He competes as hard as any player I've been around. I wouldn't bet against him getting his 200 innings."

Miguel Cairo homered as Cincinnati finished 42-39 at Great American Ball Park. The Reds drew 2,213,498 this season, an increase of 152,948 over last year's attendance when they won the NL Central.

The game took only 2 hours, 12 minutes, the fastest of the season for the Reds. There was a 4-minute delay before the fourth inning because of flashing lights triggered by a fire alarm.

Arroyo (9-12), who had been 0-2 over his previous four starts, retired his first 10 batters. He didn't allow a hit until Carlos Lee led off the fifth with a soft single just over the glove of a leaping Cairo at third base.

Arroyo walked none and struck out two. He needed just 91 pitches in his fourth career shutout and first since beating Washington on Aug. 13, 2009.

Houston didn't get runner to third until the eighth and Arroyo responded by striking out pinch-hitter Brian Bogusevic and Jordan Shafer.

The Houston hitters were swinging early in the count.

"They helped Bronson some with first-ball hitting," Baker said.

Arroyo is 8-0 with three complete games in his last nine starts against Houston.

"Today was frustrating and disappointing," Astros manager Brad Mills said. "We had some opportunities to score and as the game went on our at bats got better."

The Reds took a 1-0 lead against Wandy Rodriguez (11-11) in the first when Brandon Phillips led off with an leadoff infield single, stole second and scored on Chris Heisey's two-out bloop single.

"Wandy pitched well enough to win," Mills said.

Cairo hit a 410-foot drive into the upper deck in left in the second. It was his career-high eighth homer of the season.

Rodriguez allowed four hits with two walks and four strikeouts in seven innings. He recorded his 1,000th career strikeout by fanning Joey Votto leading off the sixth.

Game notes
The Astros finished their road schedule with a 25-56 record. ... Houston RHP Bud Norris' right shoulder still was sore Wednesday morning after he left his start on Tuesday in the fourth inning. His availability for his next start probably won't be decided until the team returns to Houston and he can be examined by team doctors, Mills said. ... Reds C Ryan Hanigan and 3B Scott Rolen won't play the rest of the season, Baker said. Back spasms have kept Hanigan sidelined since Sept. 15. Rolen hasn't been able to completely get over arthroscopic surgery performed on Aug. 3 on his left shoulder. ... Reds CF Drew Stubbs was scratched from the original starting lineup. Stubbs was hitless in his last 13 at-bats with eight strikeouts to reach 200 for the season. ... Houston opens its final homestand of the season Thursday against Colorado. RHP Henry Sosa will face the Rockies for the first time in his career. ... The Reds start their final road trip of the season Friday in Pittsburgh with RHP Edinson Volquez seeking his first win in four starts since June 29. He spent most of the second half of the season at Triple-A Louisville.

Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press

CINCINNATI -- The Houston Astros will do almost anything to get Matt Downs' bat in the lineup.

Downs made his first major league appearance in the outfield Monday night and hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning, lifting the Astros to a 3-2 win over the slumping Cincinnati Reds.

"I don't know if I thrive in those situations, but I like them," said Downs, who got the start in right. "You can turn the game around with one at-bat. It felt great."

Downs greeted Nick Masset (3-6) with a 362-foot leadoff drive to left, sending the Astros to their second straight win after a three-game losing streak.

"It was one of those at-bats where he left something out over the plate and I put the (bathead) through it," Downs said.

Downs, who has started at all four infield positions, has been working out in the outfield, manager Brad Mills said. He handled three chances flawlessly, including two fly balls.

"We watched him settle under those two fly balls, and he looked OK," Mills said. "Then he came up with the big home run in the eighth inning. That was huge."

Brandon Phillips hit a leadoff homer in the first for Cincinnati, which has lost four straight.

Six Houston pitchers combined for a four-hitter, and the Astros turned three double plays. Cincinnati collected 13 hits while being swept by Milwaukee in a weekend series.

"We hit the ball on the ground for some double plays at the wrong time," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "We haven't hit very well the last three games."

Rookie David Carpenter (1-3) picked up his first career win by getting Phillips to ground into an inning-ending forceout with runners on first and second in the seventh.

"It was definitely a tough one," Carpenter joked about his one-batter win.

Jordan Lyles and Wesley Wright combined for a scoreless eighth, and Mark Melancon worked the ninth for his 19th save.

Phillips got the Reds off to a fast start, hitting his fifth homer in his last eight games and No. 17 overall. It was his second leadoff homer of the season.

The Reds added another run in the second. Drew Stubbs walked with one out and swiped second before Todd Frazier doubled into the left-field corner.

Houston left-hander J.A. Happ settled down after the rough start, setting a season high with nine strikeouts in six innings. He allowed three hits and walked three.

"I felt like I was in a good comfort zone," said Happ, who has a 2.40 ERA in five starts since being recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City on Aug. 26. "I was able to throw my off-speed stuff early, which makes my fastball better. I felt pretty good. It's good when you have confidence in your pitches. That's the difference between a solid and not-so-solid outing."

Travis Wood pitched five scoreless innings in a surprise start for the Reds. He allowed four hits, walked two and struck out two.

Wood was pressed into action when left-hander Dontrelle Willis was scratched for the second consecutive game because of back spasms.

The Astros tied it up against Logan Ondrusek in the sixth. With runners on first and second and none out, Downs hit a grounder to third that skipped past Frazier for an error that allowed J.D. Martinez to score. Jimmy Paredes loaded the bases with a bunt single, and Carlos Lee scored on Clint Barmes' grounder that Frazier corralled with a diving stop to his left.

Game notes
Willis visited a chiropractor, but his back didn't improve enough for him to make the start. ... The Reds struck out 33 times against the Brewers over the weekend. ... A lingering right ankle injury might limit Reds 1B Yonder Alonso to pinch-hitting for the rest of the season. Alonso was hurt while playing left field in Chicago the first weekend of August, and it's gotten progressively worse. ... RHP Homer Bailey will try to set a single-season career high with his ninth win in his start on Tuesday against Houston. RHP Bud Norris, the Astros' scheduled starter, will be trying to avoid a career-high 11th loss.

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