Cardinals 5, Cubs 4
CHICAGO -- John Jay singled home Yadier Molina in the eighth inning to break a 4-4 tie as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 5-4 on Wednesday afternoon to split a two-game midweek series.
The RBI single came with one out against reliever Michael Bowden, Chicago's third pitcher of the day.
The victory snapped a two-game Cubs winning streak. The Cardinals have won six of their last seven.
Cardinals starter Jake Westbrook had no decision in his 300th career appearance and 260th start. Cubs right-hander Carlos Villanueva also did not factor into a decision after working 6 2/3 innings.
Seth Mannes (2-0) pitched 1 2/3 innings in relief and Edward Mujica worked the ninth for his ninth save. Bowden (1-2) took the loss.
Carlos Beltran went 2 for 5 with two RBI, Molina was 3 for 5 with a run scored and Matt Carpenter went 2 for 3, walked twice and scored two runs.
Anthony Rizzo collected three hits, and Nate Schierholtz and Cody Ransom each had two for Chicago.
The Cardinals grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first when Carpenter drew a leadoff walk, advanced to third on a full count hit-and-run on Beltran's single to right and scored when Matt Holliday grounded to third at the start of a double play.
The Cubs evened the score in the bottom of the first. Luis Valbuena singled to center, reached third after Rizzo's double to the center-field wall and came home on Beltran's error on a throw from center to the infield.
The Cardinals pieced together a go-ahead score in the fourth as Allen Craig was hit by a Villanueva pitch and reached third on Molina's single with none out. Craig then put the Cardinals up 2-1 when he scored on John Jay's sacrifice to center.
The Cubs reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Valbuena walked, reached second on Rizzo's single to left and both scored on Schierholtz's liner down the first-base line.
Newcomer Ryan Sweeney then reached on an infield hit, Schierholtz moved to third and made it 4-2 when he scored as Navarro hit into a fielder's choice.
Chicago allowed one run in the fifth and averted a worse fate. With Pete Kozma and Carpenter at first and second, respectively, Beltran singled to left. That scored Kozma, but Carpenter was tagged out at second to leave the bases empty.
So Holliday had no runner to drive in when he followed with a single. Craig ended the inning with a fly to right.
Westbrook was pulled after 5 1/3 innings and giving up back-to-back singles to Schierholtz and Sweeney. Manes made his third relief appearance and got Navarro to hit into an inning-ending double play.
Westbrook, who came into the game with a major-league-leading 1.07 ERA, gave up three earned runs and nine hits. He walked one and struck out one.
Villanueva got two out in the seventh and left for left-handed reliever James Russell after throwing 101 pitches. Villanueva allowed seven hits and three earned runs while walking three and striking out two.
But Russell gave up a double to right to Carpenter, who advanced to third on Schierholtz's throwing error. Beltran than punched a run-scoring single to left to tie the score at 4, the first runs Russell has allowed this season in 18 appearances.
The Cubs had runners on first and third in the eighth against reliever Randy Choate, but Schierholtz hit into an inning-ending double play.
NOTES: Wednesday's game wrapped up the first of six series meetings between the teams in 2013. Next up is a four-game series on June 17-20 in St. Louis. ... Entering Wednesday, the Cardinals led the major leagues with a .324 average in all situations with runners in scoring position and .354 with two out. ... David Freese was hitless in his last 10 at-bats but was still hitting .300 (6 for 20) for the road trip. ... John Jay has had the team's hottest bat of late, hitting .529 (9 for 17) in five games entering Wednesday, including a career-high four RBI last Saturday. He also has made no errors since Aug. 24, 2011. ... Cubs second baseman Darwin Barney was not in Wednesday's lineup after going hitless in his last 21 plate appearances. He's hitting just .147 in 20 games. ... Valbuena moved up from sixth to third for Wednesday's game after reaching base 10 times in his last 17 plate appearances. ... Chicago's David DeJesus is closing in on 500 RBI, needing six to hit that milestone.
