Cardinals Hold Off Cubs, 3-2
CHICAGO (AP) -- Brandon Moss and Jhonny Peralta homered against John Lackey, and the St. Louis Cardinals stopped a five-game slide by holding off the Chicago Cubs for a 3-2 victory on Monday night.
Aledmys Diaz added an RBI single and Jaime Garcia (5-6) pitched into the seventh inning as the Cardinals got back on track following their first winless homestand of at least two series since 1983. It was their first trip to Wrigley Field since they were eliminated by the Cubs in the NL Division Series last year.
Lackey settled down after a slow start, but Garcia and two relievers held the major league-leading Cubs in check. Lackey (7-3) allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings in his first loss in three appearances this year against his former team.
Seung Hwan Oh got four outs and Trevor Rosenthal worked a shaky ninth for his 13th save in 15 chances. Catcher Yadier Molina made a great play to throw out rookie Albert Almora Jr. trying to take third on a ball in the dirt, and Jason Heyward popped out with runners on the corners to end the game.
Both benches were warned by home plate umpire Pat Hoberg after Moss and Chicago star Kris Bryant were each hit by a pitch in the fifth. But the longtime rivals played the rest of the game without incident.
Chicago was coming off a three-game sweep of Pittsburgh and had won 18 of 24 overall. Its NL Central lead over second-place St. Louis was trimmed to 11 1/2 games, still the biggest advantage in baseball.
The Cardinals jumped in front on Moss' 16th homer in the second, a drive to the bleachers in right. With two outs and runners on first and second, Diaz dumped a single into center field for a 2-0 lead.
Peralta opened the third with a shot to left for his second homer. Lackey had allowed a total of three runs in his previous four starts combined.
The Cubs got two back in the bottom half when Bryant hit an RBI double and scored on Willson Contreras' two-out single in his first major league start. The touted catcher was promoted from Triple-A Iowa on Friday and hit a two-run homer on the first pitch of his first at-bat in Sunday night's 10-5 victory over the Pirates.
With Contreras on first, Garcia got Javier Baez to fly out to right to end the inning. The left-hander allowed six hits in 6 2/3 innings in just his second win in his past seven starts.
MISSING FOWLER
The Cubs placed center fielder Dexter Fowler on the 15-day disabled list with a right hamstring injury and recalled right-hander Carl Edward Jr. from Triple-A Iowa.
Fowler got hurt while running out a grounder to third in the first inning of Saturday night's 4-3 victory over Pittsburgh. The DL stint is retroactive to Sunday.
"Ultimately, we knew it was going to be something that was going to sideline him for at least the next handful of games, week or so," general manager Jed Hoyer said. "When that's the case, playing short-handed for what would be a significant part of a DL stint doesn't make a lot of sense."
TRAINER'S ROOM
Cardinals: C Brayan Pena, who is coming back from left knee surgery, remains on a rehab stint in the minors, and manager Mike Matheny offered no update on a possible return date when asked about the switch hitter before the game. ... Reliever Mitch Harris said in a post on his Instagram account that he had right elbow surgery last week. Matheny said he doubted Harris would be ready for the start of next season. "I haven't put a timetable, but it's usually around a year," he said.
Cubs: OF Jorge Soler (left hamstring strain) and INF Tommy La Stella (right hamstring strain) are running again. Hoyer said La Stella is closer to a rehab assignment than Soler.
UP NEXT
Cardinals RHP Adam Wainwright (5-4, 4.78 ERA) and Cubs RHP Jason Hammel (7-2, 2.26 ERA) face off on Tuesday night. Wainwright is 9-1 with a 3.33 ERA in 20 career games at Wrigley. Hammel pitched seven solid innings in a no-decision at Washington on Wednesday in his previous start.
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