CHICAGO -- After swinging through a pitch, pinch-hitter Tony Kemp began walking back to the Cubs' dugout during Saturday afternoon's 9-8 loss to the Cardinals at Wrigley Field. What looked like a critical strikeout, however, soon turned into a second chance with Chicago's playoff hopes hanging by a thread.

In the seventh inning, Kemp was called back to the batter's box by home-plate umpire Lance Barrett due to a balk call against Cardinals reliever Giovanny Gallegos. Given new life, Kemp drilled the next pitch high over center field, where a friendly wind at the Friendly Confines carried the baseball over the wall for a two-run homer that gave the Cubs an 8-7 lead.

"I've seen the balk called and the ball gets put in play and good things happen," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "But, I have not seen that one. There was a couple things that were kind of like pointing in our direction. Some of the things pointed in their direction."

When Cardinals manager Mike Shildt made a pitching change in the seventh -- turning to Tyler Webb after Gallegos gave up the homer -- he discussed the ruling with second-base umpire Bill Welke.

"I wanted to confirm," Shildt said. "And he said, ¡®Mike, look, he just ran through it.¡¯ He didn¡¯t want to make that call there, but rules are rules. We haven¡¯t looked at it yet, but if he ran through it, he ran through it. You have to make the call. Bill and this group do a good job, and he¡¯s doing his job. The timing wasn¡¯t great, but if he ran through it and didn¡¯t stop, then call it.¡±

Ben Zobrist, who moved up to third from second base on the balk call -- which stemmed from Gallegos failing to come completely set in his delivery -- shouted and high-fived Kemp as he crossed the plate. The crowd shook the ballpark, which had been quieted a half-inning earlier when Marcell Ozuna gave St. Louis the lead with a two-run homer of his own.