Cardinals 7, Diamondbacks 6 (10): Jhonny Peralta delivered a tiebreaking RBI double in the 10th inning as visiting St. Louis held off a late rally from Arizona and lowered its magic number to clinch the National League Central to two.

The Cardinals handed a three-run lead to Pat Neshek in the eighth, but the Diamondbacks used four straight one-out hits – capped by Didi Gregorius’ two-run single – and a ground-rule double from Ender Inciarte to tie the game at 6-6. However, Matt Adams doubled off Evan Marshall (4-4) to open the 10th and scored easily moments later on Peralta’s liner to left-center before Trevor Rosenthal retired the side in order for his 45th save.

Peralta finished with three RBIs while Marco Gonzales (4-2) worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth for St. Louis, which remained one game ahead of Pittsburgh in the Central with two to play. Inciarte posted his second four-hit game in three contests and Gregorius tallied three hits for the second time in four games for the league-worst Diamondbacks, who fired manager Kirk Gibson and bench coach Alan Trammell earlier in the day.

The Cardinals’ Michael Wacha loaded the bases before getting his first out on Mark Trumbo’s sacrifice fly and Miguel Montero followed with a liner up the middle to make it 2-0, but Jake Lamb hit into a double play to end the inning. St. Louis got a run back in the second on Yadier Molina’s double-play grounder and Wacha cruised through his final three innings after escaping a bases-loaded jam in the bottom half of the frame.

The score remained unchanged until the sixth, when the Cardinals loaded the bases with one out ahead of Peralta, who lined a double off the wall in straightaway center. Molina added a sacrifice fly moments later and St. Louis padded its lead one inning later on Matt Carpenter’s RBI groundout and Jon Jay’s run-scoring single.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Trammell managed Arizona on Friday and will remain with the team throughout the weekend. ... Peralta finished 3-for-5 and is 13-for-25 with seven extra-base hits in his last seven contests against Arizona. …. Diamondbacks starter Trevor Cahill surrendered four runs in 5 1/3 frames while Wacha remained winless since June 17 after allowing two runs over five-plus innings.