Carpenter, Holliday homer as Cardinals beat Cubs 4-3

Right hander Adam Wainwright was hit for three early runs then shut down Chicago for his first win in more than three weeks as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cubs 4-3 on Tuesday. He said after the game he was fine. “It kept me in there for a while”. “I just missed it”.

The Indians and starter Trevor Bauer stayed hot as the right-hander fired a complete game, allowing one run on just three hits with 10 strikeouts against the Rays.

Chicago Cubs starter Jake Arrieta delivers a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday, June 22, 2016, in Chicago. The Cardinals (38-33) won their third straight and earned their first three-game sweep in Chicago since May 17-19, 1988.

CHICAGO (AP) – The Chicago Cubs have been so dominant this season it’s stunning when they drop consecutive games.

Conor Gillaspie also homered during the fourth among his four hits and Gregor Blanco scored three times for San Francisco, which won a night after having an eight-game winning streak snapped in Pittsburgh. The Cardinals only scored two runs off Arrieta and neither of them would have scored if not for a throwing error. Piscotty obliged Arrieta by hitting a double-play ball, but second baseman Ben Zobrist could only get one out as his throw to first base got past Anthony Rizzo (-.114). And while Wainwright called it an “overstatement” to “say this is a statement series”, there are certainly some promising signs coming from St. Louis. “Jake struggled through five and could have got out of it with nothing and we could have moved it along a different way”.

“Guys showed up ready to play and brought it every day”, said winning pitcher Michael Wacha, who came into the game with a career 5.90 ERA against the Cubs. He threw six scoreless innings in that victory and allowed just two base hits while striking out 11 batters. In the sixth, the leadoff hitter reached – but Wainwright got a grounder to finish the inning on seven pitches.

Contreras replaced Miguel Montero an inning earlier after the catcher twisted his right knee. Maddon said after the game that Montero was not hurt. With a runner on second and a 2-2 count, Contreras crushed his second big league home run to left-center field-which you can view here.

Carpenter and Holliday connected against Jason Hammel (7-3) in a three-run third inning that made it 4-1.

“Actually, I feel really good playing here”, Diaz said of Wrigley Field. It just takes a toll, not only on the pitcher, but also the defense.

Reynolds, who played left field for the first time as a professional, struck out in his first two at-bats before homering to the opposite field off Joakim Soria (3-3) with two outs in the sixth. Heyward ends up walking putting Coghlan at second and Heyward at first for Kris Bryant.

Chicago’s Brett Lawrie hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning to lift the White Sox to an 8-6 win at Boston. Wong walks Moss to second with two outs.

Concepcion struck out Brandon Moss on five pitches to to end the inning.

Reliever Seth Maness made his debut since returning to the bullpen from the DL. The Cardinals aim for a third straight triumph over the Cubs as they try to trim Chicago’s lead in the National League Central to single digits. The set will mark the Cardinals’ first trip to the Pacific Northwest since 2002….