ST. LOUIS, Mo. (AP) For the first time
in a while, the St. Louis Cardinals had good reason to use their closer.
After such a long wait between pressure situations, Edward Mujica did
not let anybody down.
Mujica converted his first save chance
in 18 games, working the last two innings in an 8-4 victory over the
Chicago Cubs that ended a four-game losing streak and avoided a sweep on
Sunday.
"All the time it's about consistency,"
Mujica said. "Sometimes days off are pretty good for pitchers. For my
arm. Everybody knows we're going to be out of this rough time."
Pete Kozma singled home the
tiebreaking run in the sixth. Matt Carpenter and Allen Craig each had
three hits and drove in a run. Jon Jay and David Freese both drove in
two runs, though they only had one hit between them.
"That was a great at-bat by Pete, and
couldn't have come at a better time," manager Mike Matheny said. "I
thought the guys did a real good job of situational hitting, getting the
runs in when they had money on the table."
Mujica earned his 31st save in 33
chances and first since July 25 against the Phillies, overcoming Starlin
Castro's leadoff double in the eighth with just a one-run cushion. Then
he retired the final five in a row in an outing that matched his
longest of the year.
The right-hander had been anticipating
that after setup man Trevor Rosenthal threw 33 pitches and gave up the
tying and go-ahead runs in two-thirds of an inning in a 6-5 loss.
"We had that in mind, didn't
necessarily commit to that," Matheny said. "We knew that would be an
option to go for `Chief' for two."
Randy Choate (2-1) faced one batter,
getting leadoff man David DeJesus to pop out with two men on to end the
sixth after the Cubs had tied it at 4 on RBI singles by Castro and
Darwin Barney off Seth Maness.
Barney, like Kozma an eighth-place
hitter, had two RBI singles. He's batting .215 overall but has a .317
average against St. Louis with two homers and 10 RBIs.
"He battles up there and it's hard to
strike him out and he's going to give you an at-bat all the time," Cubs
manager Dale Sveum said. "He's a little battler."
Tony Cruz doubled with two outs in
the sixth off Blake Parker (1-2) and scored easily on Kozma's single.
Parker was the winner Saturday with an inning of relief.
Jay added a sacrifice fly in the
seventh off Hector Rondon and the Cardinals got RBIs from Carpenter and
Craig in the eighth off Michael Bowden.
The Cardinals combined two singles, a
walk, a steal and a sacrifice fly off Edwin Jackson in a three-run
first. Matt Holliday had one of the RBIs plus a steal off Jackson's slow
move to the plate, before Jackson finally retaliated by picking off
Jay.
Holliday handed the Cubs an unearned
run in the third when he camped under Junior Lake's two-out high fly to
medium left but then whiffed on the catch and DeJesus scored from first.
The Cubs settled for their first
series win in St. Louis since a three-game sweep Sept. 13-15, 2010.
They'd been 0-6-1 the previous seven series, and were trying for a
three-game sweep.
"You can take two out of three here
it's definitely a good thing," Barney said. "It's tough to win a series
here. They play so well at home and Allen Craig is unbelievable with
runners in scoring position."
NOTES: Cardinals OF Carlos Beltran
fouled a ball off his right foot in the fifth, got medical attention on
the field and then struck out before leaving with a bruise. X-rays were
negative and the Cardinals are hopeful he can return Tuesday against NL
Central-leading Pittsburgh. "It's sore, no doubt it's sore," Beltran
said. "Hopefully Tuesday I can be back." ... Holliday grounded into his
major league-leading 26th double play in the fifth. ... The Cubs'
Darnell McDonald walked pinch-hitting in the seventh in his first at-bat
of the year. He's the 50th player used by the Cubs, most in the majors.
... St. Louis' last two wins have come in starts by Joe Kelly, who
allowed three earned runs in 5 1/3 innings and Jackson gave up four runs
in five innings. ... Castro has five hits the last two games and is
batting .536 (15-for-28) the last seven games against St. Louis.
