NEW YORK — With a desperate rally in the rain, Carlos Beltran and the New York Mets kept their playoff destiny in their own hands.

Beltran singled home the winning run with two outs in the ninth inning and New York beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-6, last night for a huge win that halted its late-season slide.

"I was going to the plate thinking I have to come through," Beltran said. "We have three games left and it's going to be hard."

After trailing by three runs in the seventh, New York fought back to move within one game of NL East-leading Philadelphia with three to play. The Mets also stayed tied atop the wild-card standings with Milwaukee, which beat Pittsburgh, 5-1, in 10 innings.

"The one thing about this team is it has responded to adversity," New York manager Jerry Manuel said. "Tonight was another example of that."

Rich Harden pitched six solid innings in his final playoff tuneup for the NL Central champion Cubs and lightly used rookie Micah Hoffpauir went 5 for 5 with five RBIs and his first two major league homers - including a tiebreaking shot in the seventh off Ricardo Rincon that gave Chicago a 6-3 lead.

"He put on a show tonight. It was fun to watch," teammate Derrek Lee said. "I think the Brewers and the Phillies, they couldn't be disappointed in our effort."

But the Cubs, resting most of their stars, couldn't hold on.

BREWERS 5, PIRATES 1

Ryan Braun hit a grand slam, the first by a Milwaukee player this season, in the bottom of the 10th inning to help finish a three-game sweep of Pittsburgh to remain tied with New York in the NL wild-card race.

CARDINALS 12, DIAMONDBACKS 3

Albert Pujols had a three-run homer and four RBIs to back Joel Pineiro (7-7), who allowed three runs over seven innings as host St. Louis beat Arizona and allowed Los Angeles to clinch the NL West.

ASTROS 8, REDS 6

Roy Oswalt (71-10) allowed two hits in six innings to keep Houston barely alive for the wild card. One more Houston loss or victory by either the Mets or Brewers will eliminate the Astros.

ROCKIES 3, GIANTS 1

Clint Barmes homered for the second straight game, Jorge De La Rosa (10-8) spaced three hits over seven scoreless innings and hit an RBI single as visiting Colorado completed a three-game sweep of San Francisco.

MARLINS-NATIONALS RAINED OUT

Florida was mathematically eliminated from playoff contention Tuesday, and last night's game at Washington - the Nationals' final game of the season at their new, $611 million ballpark - was rained out and will not be made up.