Carlos Beltran walked to the plate in the ninth inning at Shea Stadium thinking, "I have to come through." The same thought was probably running through Ryan Braun's mind in Milwaukee.

Beltran singled home the winning run with two outs, and New York beat the Chicago Cubs 7-6 Thursday to climb within a game of Philadelphia in the NL East.

It also gave the Mets an oh-so-brief lead in the wild-card race, until Braun hit a grand slam in the 10th inning that lifted the Brewers to a 5-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates and back into a tie with New York.

The Los Angeles Dodgers won the NL West when Arizona completed its late-season fade, but there is still much to be decided in the rest of the National League. The Mets host Florida in their final regular-season games this weekend, with the NL East-leading Phillies home against Washington and the Cubs visiting Milwaukee.

The Dodgers lost 7-5 to San Diego, but had already wrapped up their division when St. Louis beat Arizona 12-3 in the afternoon.

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 RBI against Mets pitching, including his first two major league homers.

In Milwaukee, Braun had been 0-for-4 before clobbering a 2-2 pitch from reliever Jesse Chavez (0-1) deep to left field. The young slugger held up his bat and hollered at the Brewers' dugout as he began to circle the bases, celebrating the first grand slam of his career and the Brewers' first grand slam this year.

Zach Duke held the Brewers to a run and seven hits in seven innings.

"He threw the ball really well," Pirates manager John Russell said. "It's a big reason I sent him back out for the extra inning. It was a 1-1 game, and I really was trying to get him a win there."

Twins 7, White Sox 6

Minnesota ran circles around the wilting Chicago White Sox in a pivotal three-game sweep.

Alexi Casilla singled in the winning run in the 10th inning Thursday night and the Twins beat Chicago to move into first place in the AL Central by a half-game.

The AL East also remained undecided. A Tampa Bay win would have clinched the division, but the Rays lost 7-5 to the Detroit Tigers and the Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 6-1 to pull within two games of the division leaders.