Kyle Stowers homered and the Miami Marlins denied the Chicago Cubs a chance to clinch a playoff berth for the second straight night with a 3-2 victory Wednesday at Wrigley Field.
Dansby Swanson drove in both runs for the Cubs, who needed a win over the Marlins or the Arizona Diamondbacks to lose to the Colorado Rockies to secure an NL wild-card berth.
Joe Mack’s groundout brought home Augustin Ramirez with the go-ahead run in the seventh and the Marlins retired the next nine Cubs batters to win their second straight game after dropping three to the San Diego Padres.
Stowers hit his 21st home run, a two-run shot, off Kevin Gausman in the top of the sixth to break a scoreless tie. The Cubs evened things in the bottom of the inning when Swanson laced a broken-bat single into left field to bring home a pair of runs.
Cade Gibson (6-2), the second of four Marlins relievers, struck out two in the seventh and Sandy Alcantara worked the ninth for his second save.
Reliever Ryan Rolison (9-2) took the loss.
Gausman struck out seven and allowed two runs, six hits and a walk in the first 5 2/3 innings. The Marlins’ Ryan Gusto allowed six hits and two walks while striking out five in 5 1/3 innings.
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The Cubs will start LHP Matthew Boyd (9-5, 4.06 ERA) for Thursday afternoon’s regular-season home finale. RHP Tyler Phillips (5-6, 3.45 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Marlins.