CHICAGO (AP) — John Lackey threw seven scoreless innings, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 6-0 on Monday night, despite Jon Lester’s taking a no-hitter into the seventh.
Signed to a six-year, $155 million deal the past offseason, Lester (4-7) remains winless in nine straight starts since he beat Pittsburgh on May 16. He allowed two hits and two unearned runs while striking out eight for Chicago, which had won five of six.
Lester’s bid for his second career no-hitter ended with one out in the seventh, when Kris Bryant couldn’t handle Jhonny Peralta’s sharp grounder in back of third base. That also ended Lester’s streak of 18 batters retired.
The Chicago defense then let Lester down when Bryant’s throw to second on a Jason Heyward grounder went into right field. That was followed by Yadier Molina’s run-scoring sacrifice fly to right and Kolten Wong’s RBI single to left that put St. Louis ahead 2-0.
Lackey and two relievers combined on a six-hit shutout.
Lester recorded the first hit of his MLB career when he hit an infield single in the second off John Lackey. He had been 0-for-66 overall, the longest such streak to start an MLB career, and 0-for-30 this season.
Unfortunately for Lester, Lackey (7-5) continued the offensive woes for the Cubs, who have scored three runs in just two of their past 13 games.
Lackey, who was a teammate of Lester’s in Boston from 2010-2014, struck out four and gave up six hits while walking one and getting enough support from a Cardinals offense that scored more than three runs for the first time since June 28.
The Cubs had a good chance in the sixth, when Anthony Rizzo and Bryant started the inning with singles. Miguel Montero struck out before Wong made a diving play on a sharp Starlin Castro grounder to start a double play and end the inning.
With that defense and the offense showing some signs of improvement, especially in a four-run ninth against Edwin Jackson, the Cardinals stayed hot and won their third straight and in a game delayed by rain for more than an hour in the middle of the eighth inning.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cardinals: OF Jon Jay (left wrist) has been told to do nothing for the next week, in hopes the inaction will help the healing.
Cubs: RHP Rafael Soriano joined Double-A Tennessee after a brief time in Mesa, Arizona. Soriano was signed June 9 and had been in the Dominican Republic waiting for his immigration situation to clear up.
UP NEXT
Cardinals LHP Tyler Lyons (2-0, 5.09) faces Chicago RHP Jake Arrieta (8-5, 2.80) in the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader. In the nightcap, St. Louis LHP Tim Cooney (0-0, 5.40) will oppose Cubs RHP Dallas Beeler, who is expected to be called up from Triple-A Iowa before the game.
— Associated Press —