The Cincinnati Reds became the first team in the majors to clinch a playoff spot after beating the Chicago Cubs 5-3 on Thursday night, completing a three-game sweep.
The team played without manager Dusty Baker for the second straight game after being diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat earlier in the week.
"Obviously, we won the last two games for him. We have him in our thoughts, but we got good news on his update," reliever Sean Marshall said to the Associated Press. "Hopefully he'll be back with us tomorrow and when it really matters, when we clinch (the division). Hopefully, we get to celebrate this weekend with him."
With the win, the Reds guaranteed at least a wild-card spot, but will most likely win the division since they are up by 11 games over the St. Louis Cardinals. The Reds' magic number now sits at two to win the division. The NL Central title would be the second for the Reds in three years.
Baker is expected to return to Cincinnati to manage the game on Friday. Bench coach Chris Speier ran the team for a second straight game.
"He looked good. Very good. He'll be there tomorrow," said general manager Walt Jocketty, who visited Baker on Thursday morning.
The team has played well in Baker's absence, but will be glad to have the manager back and healthy.
"Chris Speier did an excellent job, but I think he's (Dusty) missed and we're looking forward to having him back, and more importantly, we're hoping for the best with his health," star first baseman Joey Votto said.
Ace Johnny Cueto pitched a great game for the Reds, allowing no runs in six innings on just five hits, but also had five walks. He now has 18 wins and 2.84 ERA on the season.
"I don't think that was the best stuff he's ever had. You can tell he might be getting a little tired at the end of the year or whatever, but I've seen him with a lot better stuff," Chicago manager Dale Sveum said.
The game remained scoreless until the seventh inning when the Reds got three runs on five straight singles off of Chicago pitcher Manuel Corpas. Cincinnati added two more runs on a double by Henry Rodriguez.
The Cubs answered back in the bottom of the seventh, scoring on an Anthony Rizzo single and added one run in the eighth and ninth to cut the score to 5-3, but couldn't quite get over the hump.
The Reds managed to win a second division title while dealing with injuries to some star players, including first baseman Joe Votto, who missed two months earlier in the year. Votto, who won the NL MVP in 2010 signed a 10-year, $225 million contract extension in April.
"We've played very successful baseball this year, and we've competed with the best teams at a very high level," Votto said. "We've done a lot of winning this year, but I think anything but setting the World Series as our standard, I think anything less would be selling ourselves short. ... That's our goal."
While Votto was out, the Reds managed to keep winning, going 32-16 since July 16 when he was hurt.
The pitching staff has been durable and reliable for the Reds, who have only needed to use five starters all season apart from one game of a doubleheader when they used a sixth.
Chicago starting pitcher Jason Berken pitched a solid game, working six innings and allowing two hits.
"I was able to get a couple of jams, great defense behind me, stayed on the same page the whole game," Berken said.
The Reds will next host the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday, with pitcher Bronson Arroyo taking on the Dodgers' Joe Blanton.
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