Cards win second straight

Cards win second straight

MLB.com CHICAGO — It was payback time for the Cardinals. After losing four of six games at Busch Stadium to the Cubs, the Cardinals and Adam Wainwright spoiled the party in front of 41,616 at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night with a 4-3 victory.

It evened the season series against the division rivals at 4-4 and moved St. Louis to 10 1/2 games behind the first-place Cubs.

Matt Carpenter belted a solo homer in the third inning and Matt Holliday followed one batter later with a two-run shot to back Wainwright, who improved to 10-1 in 16 career starts at Wrigley Field. He joins Bob Gibson and Harry 'The Cat' Brecheen as the only Cardinals pitchers with at least 10 career wins at Wrigley.

The Cardinals' ace was coming off his best start of the season in which he threw seven shutout innings against the Astros, and on Tuesday, he scattered six hits over 6 2/3 innings.

Jason Hammel, who began the night ranked seventh in the National League in ERA, took the loss. It's only the second time the Cubs have lost two in a row at home; they also dropped a pair in a doubleheader against the Padres on May 11.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Going for distance: The Cardinals took the lead in the third via long home runs by Carpenter and Holliday that combined for 851 feet. Each one went to center field off Hammel, who didn't allow another run. Carpenter led off the inning with a shot that traveled 417 feet and Holliday's blast went 434 feet, putting St. Louis up 4-1. It was Holliday's second homer in the past three games.

Close encounters: Brandon Moss helped the Cardinals escape a jam in the seventh thanks to a diving grab to strand runners at the corners. Addison Russell doubled to start the inning, and two outs later, Jonathan Broxton walked Chris Coghlan. But both were stranded when Moss stopped a sharply hit grounder by Jason Heyward and stepped on first to end the inning.

By Carrie Muskat and Brian Hedger