After starter Jack Flaherty battled through five innings, John Brebbia (1-1), Austin Gomber, Jordan Hicks and Bud Norris each handled an inning. Brebbia earned his first MLB win as the Cardinals snapped a four-game losing streak.
Jose Quintana (6-5) sailed through five scoreless innings before giving up singles to Harrison Bader and Tommy Pham to start the sixth. Quintana was charged with two runs on four hits, walking two and striking out three.
Flaherty permitted only two hits and fanned seven in his start, touching 97mph on the radar gun and using a wipeout slider to dominate Chicago hitters. But he put himself in two bases-loaded jams by walking three, hitting two and committing a throwing error on a bad pickoff attempt.
Behind 2-0 on the count to Kris Bryant in the third with the bases full, Flaherty got a mound visit from catcher Yadier Molina. Three pitches later, Flaherty was walking off the mound after whiffing Bryant.
The Cubs loaded the bases again in the fourth, but Flaherty slipped a 3-2 fastball past Quintana for a called third strike. Those missed opportunities finally came back to haunt Chicago in the sixth.
A bases-loaded double play ball off Molina’s bat scored Bader with the first run. Jedd Gyorko laced an RBI single to center that plated Pham for a 2-0 lead.
Matt Carpenter touched Brian Duensing for a solo homer in the seventh, his 10th of the season.
Duensing hung a 1-2 curve over the middle and Carpenter lined it 369 feet into the front row of seats behind the right field wall.
St. Louis tacked on two more runs in the eighth. Molina’s hit-and-run double down the left field line plated Pham, and a throwing error by shortstop Addison Russell on Jairo Munoz’s infield hit scored Molina.
Chicago shortstop Javier Baez left the game in the third inning after getting hit on the left elbow by a Flaherty fastball. Baez will be X-rayed on Monday.
Meanwhile Carlos Correa opened the eighth inning with a game-tying home run before Evan Gattis and Marwin Gonzalez added run-scoring singles as the Houston Astros capped a perfect road trip with a 7-4 comeback victory over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.
The Astros extended their winning streak to 11 games and finished 10-0 on their trip by stringing together five consecutive hits leading off the eighth. Correa socked his 13th homer off Royals reliever Brandon Mauer (0-3) to knot the score at 4-all before Yuli Gurriel chased Mauer with a single.
Tim Hill replaced Mauer but didn’t provide much relief for the Royals, surrendering a pinch-double to Tyler White before Gattis and Gonzalez delivered RBI singles for a two-run lead.
Correa (2-for-4, 3 RBIs) produced a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning that scored Alex Bregman.
The Astros hit into four double plays and appeared primed to be undone by those missed opportunities.
Brad Keller dipped in and out of danger, allowing three runs on nine hits and three walks over six innings for Kansas City.
He induced three of the four double plays and kept the Astros at bay after surrendering two runs in the first inning on back-to-back RBI singles from Correa and Gurriel.
The Royals pulled even in the bottom half of the first. Astros right-hander Lance McCullers walked Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas and both scored, with Gordon coming home on a throwing error by Bregman.
McCullers turned a sparkling defensive play to retire shortstop Alcides Escobar, but Moustakas scored on the play to pull the Royals even.
McCullers allowed a two-run homer to Hunter Dozier, his third, in the third inning but pitched effectively through six innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits and two walks with nine strikeouts.
Left-hander Tony Sipp (2-0) notched the win with a scoreless seventh inning.
Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield departed in the second inning after fouling a pitch off his left knee. Adalberto Mondesi replaced Merrifield during the at-bat and struck out.
RESULTS
Astros 7 Royals 4
Athletics 6 Angels 5
Rangers 13 Rockies 12
Orioles 10 Marlins 4
Mets 5 Diamondbacks 3
Braves 4 Padres 1
Blue Jays 8 Nationals 6
Rays 3 Yankees 1
Indians 4 Twins 1
Reds 8 Pirates 6
Tigers 3 White Sox 1
Phillies 10 Brewers 9
Giants 4 Dodgers 1
Red Sox 9 Mariners 3
Cardinals 5 Cubs 0