Cardinals 10, Cubs 9
ST. LOUIS -- Tony Cruz did more than give perennial All-Star catcher Yadier Molina a game off. He gave the St. Louis Cardinals a seventh straight win.
Pulling a two-run double past diving third baseman Kris Bryant to snap an 8-8 tie in the bottom of the seventh inning Monday night, Cruz lifted St. Louis to a wacky 10-9 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium.
In a game that lasted 3:39, including a brief delay in the sixth inning as two fans ran on the field, the Cardinals improved their major league-best record to 19-6 despite trailing 5-0 before batting.
St. Louis scored four times in the seventh against Pedro Strop (0-2) and Zac Rosscup. Right fielder Jason Heyward knocked in a run with a fielder's choice grounder, and second baseman Kolten Wong's RBI single evened the score to set up Cruz's heroics.
Reliever Miguel Socolovich (2-0) pitched a scoreless seventh inning for his second win in as many days. Seth Maness picked up his second save despite allowing a two-out solo homer to shortstop Addison Russell.
Neither starter was involved in the decision. Chicago left-hander Travis Wood surrendered six runs on six hits and two walks in five-plus innings, fanning five.
Cardinals right-hander Carlos Martinez needed 102 pitches to make it through 3 2/3 innings, allowing nine hits and seven runs with four walks and four strikeouts.
The Cubs (13-11) absorbed their third straight loss.
Both teams batted around in a crazy first inning that saw a combined nine runs, seven hits, five walks and 72 pitches.
Chicago scored five runs off Martinez. After Martinez walked the bases loaded, catcher Miguel Montero slapped a two-run single, and shortstop Starlin Castro, right fielder Chris Denorfia and Wood all hit RBI singles.
The Cardinals got four of those runs back in their half of the inning with one swing of first baseman Mark Reynolds' bat. He belted a 407-foot grand slam, the fourth slam of his career, into the Cubs' bullpen in left-center.
Chicago tacked on a run in the second on a one-out homer by first baseman Anthony Rizzo and a run in the fourth when Montero ripped a two-out double off the left-field wall to score Bryant. That ended Martinez's night after seven runs, nine hits and four walks in 3 2/3 innings.
NOTES: St. Louis 3B Matt Carpenter, who left Sunday's game after seven innings due to lightheadedness, was back in the lineup Monday, batting second. ... Chicago RHP Justin Grimm (right forearm inflammation) was scheduled to start a rehab assignment Monday with Triple-A Iowa at Nashville. Grimm was disabled on April 2. ... The Cardinals' walk-off wins in all three games of their weekend series with Pittsburgh marked the first time they had won three straight extra-inning games while allowing two runs or less in each game. The Houston Astros (1991) and San Diego Padres (2014) were the only other teams to do it.