St Louis batters pounced on Chicago’s bullpen after Cubs ace Jake Arrieta departed, recording a 7-2 victory on Wednesday that extended the Cardinals winning streak on the road to eight straight; their longest such sequence in 34 years.
The result completed a three game sweep for the Cardinals at Wrigley Field, which trimmed the Cubs’ lead in the National League Central division below double figures.
San Francisco’s lead in the NL West remained at 5-1/2 games after the Giants won narrowly at Pittsburgh, while their nearest rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, won a similarly tight game against Washington.
Photo: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY
The Nationals’ defeat saw their lead in the NL East reduced to 3-1/2 games ahead of the New York Mets, who made up ground with a victory over Kansas City in a reprise of last year’s World Series.
St Louis, like just about every other team that had faced Arrieta, struggled against the Cubs ace, who was below his best, issuing four walks and needing 106 pitches to get through five innings, but giving up only one earned run.
However, once he had departed, the Cardinals rattled on five runs in the sixth inning, keyed by a two-run homer from Aledmys Diaz and a two-run double by Matt Carpenter.
St Louis starter Michael Wacha (3-7) ended a personal seven-game skid by pitching into the seventh inning and taking his first win in two months.
The Dodgers edged Washington 4-3, with Yasiel Puig racing home for the winning run when his single got past Nationals center fielder Michael Taylor for a three-base error.
Puig broke into a sprint at first base after Taylor overran the rolling single to left-center field. Howie Kendrick scored easily from first base and Puig dived home to beat the throw from the outfield, giving the Dodgers their fifth comeback win in six games.
It capped a miserable day for Taylor, who was struck out in all five of his plate appearances batting leadoff.
There was also a close finish at Pittsburgh, as San Francisco catcher Buster Posey threw out John Jaso attempting to steal second base, ending the game and giving the Giants a 7-6 win.
The Giants had trailed by five runs before Joe Panik’s two-run double capped a three-run sixth inning.
The Mets edged Kansas City 4-3, with Matt Reynolds hitting his first major league homer in the sixth inning to put the Mets ahead.
Chicago’s Brett Lawrie hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning to lift the White Sox to an 8-6 victory over Boston.
Texas’ Cole Hamels struck out eight in six solid innings to guide the Rangers to a 6-4 win at Cincinnati.
Toronto ended Arizona’s five-game winning streak with a 5-2 victory.
Detroit’s Michael Fulmer went through some control problems in the fifth, but did enough to help the Tigers beat Seattle 5-1.
Cleveland extended its run of wins to six by defeating Tampa Bay 6-1, with Trevor Bauer pitching only his second career complete game.
Baltimore won for the 1,000th time at Camden Yards, beating San Diego 7-2, with Ubaldo Jimenez interrupting his exile to the bullpen with a sharp performance in a starting role.
New York’s Starlin Castro hit a game-winning home run to lead off the bottom of the ninth, giving the Yankees a 9-8 win against Colorado.
Houston notched a fifth successive win, as Jose Altuve homered and Marwin Gonzalez hit a tiebreaking triple in the eighth inning as the Astros beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-2.
Miami’s Adam Conley pitched a career-high eight innings to steer the Marlins past Atlanta 3-0, halting the Braves’ six-game winning streak.
Milwaukee’s Junior Guerra struck out eight in seven innings for his first victory in more than a month, guiding the Brewers past Oakland 4-2.
Minnesota’s Max Kepler made up for a costly error with a tying single in the fifth inning and the go-ahead sacrifice fly in the seventh as the Twins edged Philadelphia 6-5, stretching the Phillies’ losing skid to nine games.
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