Soler leads onslaught as Cubs drub Cards
ST. LOUIS -- The Chicago Cubs wasted no time Tuesday night ending their season-high three-game losing streak.
Jumping out to a 6-0 lead before the St. Louis Cardinals got to the bat rack, Chicago cruised to a 12-3 win at Busch Stadium, becoming the first team to reach 30 wins.
Jorge Soler led the offensive onslaught by reaching base four times and knocking in three runs, going 2-for-3 with two runs. Dexter Fowler went 3-for-6 with an RBI, while Kris Bryant and Addison Russell added two hits apiece for the Cubs, who outhit St. Louis, 15-7.
There was no letup from Chicago (30-14), which finished the night with four runs in the ninth, highlighted by a two-run triple from pinch-hitter Matt Szczur.
Jason Hammel (6-1) took all that offensive support and offered an outing that would have won with a whole lot less help. In 7 1/3 innings, Hammel gave up only four hits and a run, walking three and fanning four.
Michael Wacha (2-5) absorbed his fifth straight loss and hasn't won in six starts, dating back to April 23. Wacha allowed a career-high eight runs on eight hits in four-plus innings, issuing four walks and striking out four.
Randal Grichuk went 2-for-4 with an RBI in a two-run ninth for the Cardinals (24-22). Brandon Moss ended Hammel's shutout bid in the eighth with a run-scoring double.
Chicago hammered Wacha for six runs in the top of the first. Bryant's RBI single got the carnage going, while Soler drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 2-0.
With two outs, David Ross hammered a two-run double off the glove of Grichuk. Hammel followed with his own two-run double as Grichuk took an odd route to the ball and couldn't cut it off.
Soler chased Wacha in the fifth with a towering two-run homer to center, his fourth of the year, with Ben Zobrist aboard after a leadoff double.
Meanwhile, Hammel efficiently worked through the Cardinals lineup for five innings, allowing only a ground-rule double to Matt Adams and three walks. Hammel retired the side in order in the first, third and fourth.
NOTES: St. Louis SS Jhonny Peralta (left thumb) served as DH for Class A Peoria during the fourth game of his rehab assignment on Tuesday night. ... Chicago RF Jason Heyward (rib cage contusion) returned to the lineup. He missed the last three games after being injured while making a sprawling catch at the wall in the first inning on Friday night at San Francisco. ... PH Matt Adams' two-run homer on Monday night gave the Cardinals nine pinch-home runs this year, one shy of the franchise record. By contrast, 16 major league teams have yet to hit a pinch-homer in 2016.