Cardinals 8, Cubs 4
Pete Kozma delivered the tiebreaking single in the sixth inning as St. Louis defeated visiting Chicago to snap a four-game losing streak.
Jon Jay added a sacrifice fly in the seventh for his second RBI and David Freese also had two RBIs as the Cardinals avoided being swept. Matt Carpenter and Allen Craig added RBI doubles in the eighth as the Cardinals moved three games behind first-place Pittsburgh in the National League Central.
Kozma’s go-ahead hit came against Blake Parker (1-2). St. Louis reliever Randy Choate (2-1) recorded the final out in the sixth and Edward Mujica worked the final two innings for his 31st save in 33 opportunities.
St. Louis jumped out to a 3-0 first-inning lead on Matt Holliday’s single, Freese’s sacrifice fly and Jay’s single. The advantage reached 4-1 in the third on Freese’s infield out.
Chicago’s Darwin Barney had a run-scoring infield single in the fourth and the Cubs tied the contest with two sixth-inning runs. Starlin Castro singled to right for the first one and Barney singled to center to knot the score at 4-4.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Craig reached base five times on three hits and two walks and Carpenter went 3-for-5. … Castro had three hits and went 6-for-12 in the series. … Cardinals starter Joe Kelly gave up four runs (three earned) and five hits in 5 1/3 innings, while Chicago’s Edwin Jackson allowed four runs and six hits in five innings.