SAN FRANCISCO -- Bruce Bochy gave his guys an afternoon off from batting practice and a late report time to the ballpark. His players got a chance to rest up a bit and refresh themselves with a mental break from the September grind.It went so well, the Giants manager is going with the same plan Friday.I think it was a really good call by Boch, outfielder Hunter Pence said. He had a big impact on refueling us.And then, Johnny Cueto went out and inspired his teammates with a timely gem.The fist-pumping pitcher tossed a five-hitter and retired his final 17 batters, and San Francisco gained ground in the playoff race with a 6-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night.Every game that I pitch or will pitch from now on, Im going to treat it like a playoff game, Cueto said.The Cardinals loss clinched the NL Central title for the Chicago Cubs.Pence hit a two-run homer, Cueto (16-5) had a go-ahead sacrifice fly and Angel Pagan followed with an RBI single.Denard Span added a two-run single in the seventh for San Francisco, and Buster Posey had four hits.The Giants gained a game on the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers, who are ahead by four after losing at Arizona.San Francisco also moved a game in front of the idle New York Mets and two up on the Cardinals in the chase for the two NL wild cards. St. Louis opened a 10-game road trip, its last of 2016.This is an important time for us. Im not trying to downplay the game, but we do have time left, Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright said. We have plenty of time left to make this thing happen.Cueto struck out seven and walked one in his fifth complete game, tying Chris Sale of the White Sox for most in the majors. Cueto threw 105 pitches in a game that was done in 2 hours, 33 minutes.He outdueled Wainwright (11-9), and the San Francisco lineup delivered a day after the Giants were swept by the San Diego Padres in a lackluster three-game series.Cueto allowed Randal Grichuks RBI single in the fourth. But with the Giants closer-by-committee struggles, he gave the bullpen a much-needed break.When the pitcher showed up at 5:10 p.m. -- on time with the late report -- he felt as though he was late.You take a step back really and just reframe, refresh, regroup. It really felt good, Pence said. I think a lot of people had some good time away from the field and come in, get back together, feeling good.This marked the fourth regular-season matchup between Cueto and Wainwright dating to the San Francisco right-handers time in the NL Central with Cincinnati. Cueto beat Wainwright for the second time this season after a June 3 win.Span was dropped to eighth in the order in an effort to get his bat going.Wainwright intentionally walked Span in the fourth with runners on second and third to bring up Cueto, who hit sacrifice fly for the go-ahead run.PLAYOFF VIBEFormer Giants catcher and current Cardinals manager Mike Matheny recognized the crisp air and was reminded of all the playoff series St. Louis has played in recent years at AT&T Park. The Giants beat the Cardinals in the NL Championship Series in 2012 and `14, going on to win the World Series each time.It hasnt worked out real well a lot of times for us here, so wed like to change that part of it, Matheny said. It just seems like that postseason feel because of the excitement.BOCHYS HEART WALKBochy will help kick off the American Heart Associations Heart Walk on Friday afternoon, with his portion being a short jaunt from near the iconic Ferry Building to the ballpark.Giants executive and ticket chief Russ Stanley, who had quintuple bypass surgery in April, will walk with Bochy in honor of another colleague -- Raul Rodriguez -- who died this year of heart disease.TRAINERS ROOMCardinals: SS Aledmys Diaz was out of the lineup. He came off the disabled list Sunday after he had been out since July 31 with a broken right thumb. We had to watch how he responded the first two games and you could tell his hand was fine, its just the rest of his body was not quite in that consistent game-playing shape yet, Matheny said, saying Diaz will be re-evaluated before Fridays game. ... RHP Trevor Rosenthal was activated from the 15-day disabled list. He had been sidelined since July 26 with inflammation in his pitching shoulder, that after losing his job as closer in late June. ... RHP Alex Reyes is set to start Sunday, replacing Jaime Garcia as he moves to the bullpen.Giants: 3B Eduardo Nunez returned to the lineup after missing three games with tightness in his back.UP NEXTCardinals: RHP Luke Weaver (1-2, 3.48 ERA) looks for his first win in four starts since beating Oakland on Aug. 26.Giants: LHP Matt Moore (3-4, 4.05) will face the Cardinals for the first time in his career. He is looking to win for the fourth time in five starts as he makes his ninth start since joining San Francisco in a trade with Tampa Bay. Wholesale Air Max Australia Outlet . 10 Texas A&Ms offence dominated as usual against SMU. Cheap Air Max Australia Online . Miller reached right to deflect Mikhail Grabovskis attempt with just over 2 minutes remaining in regulation, and then made two more saves in the shootout Sunday to give the Sabres a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals. http://www.airmax1outletaustralia.com/ . -- Team after team passed on Andre Ellington in the draft. Discount Nike Shoes Australia . -- Gus Malzahn finally had his day in Fayetteville. Air Max 1 Australia . "I dont know that were close," said general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "I just think, right now, the acquisition cost just doesnt work for us right now. I dont know if I can quantify how far off or things like that that they might be but I would say we continue to have dialogue. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The four golfers?in contention for the?Race to Dubai?title were upstaged by Lee Westwood in the first round of the DP World Tour Championship on Thursday.Westwood shot a 6-under 66 in swirling winds to take a one-stroke lead at the European Tours season-ending event in Dubai.Some days you feel like theres a lot of birdies out there but today I think was a pretty stiff test, Westwood said.Danny Willett and Alex Noren were best-placed of the players bidding to finish the season as Europes No. 1 after shooting 71s on the Earth course of Jumeirah Golf Estates, while Henrik Stenson -- the leader in the Race to Dubai standings -- shot 72.Rory McIlroy started the week as the big outsider to win the Race to Dubai and his chances are even slimmer after shooting 75, ending a run of 28 straight rounds of par or lower at the World Tour Championship.Should Stenson win, he will be Europes No. 1 for the second time in four years. He could even finish atop the standings with a top-eight finish, provided Willett doesnt win or finish second and Noren doesnt win.The 43-year-old WWestwood, who was the winner of the inaugural edition of World Tour Championship in 2009, made just one bogey -- on No.dddddddddddd 12 -- on a day when winds made scoring difficult. He had three birdies on the front nine and four on the back nine.It was all good, really. I played lovely, said Westwood, playing without his regular caddie Billy Foster who is out with a knee injury. Hit a lot of fairways, a lot of good iron shots, putted nicely and, you know, didnt make too many mistakes out there.Frances Julien Quesne and Belgiums Nicolas Colsaerts were tied for second place after 67s, while No. 12 Spaniard Sergio Garcia was tied fourth after a 68, along with Italian Francesco Molinari and Dutchman Joost Luiten.Stenson made just one birdie and one bogey, being denied a closing birdie on the 18th after his putt from six feet lipped out.It wasnt my best day. I played very average, Stenson said. Id say the good putts I hit didnt go in, and the bad ones certainly didnt. ' ' '