Ryan Dempster’s winless streak is now at 15 starts. But the Chicago Cubs took a step forward with their luckless pitcher.

“It’s alright. Baby steps,” Dempster said after the Cubs sent the St. Louis Cardinals to their fourth straight loss at home with a 6-4 victory on Monday night. “We got a win when I started a game.”

Alfonso Soriano singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and Bryan LaHair had three hits, including a two-run homer — his ninth overall and fourth against the Cardinals — to break a 1-for-14 slump. Chicago’s runs in the eighth and ninth innings came too late for Dempster, whose last victory was Aug. 16 against the Nationals.

Shawn Camp (2-1) allowed one hit in two innings of work and Rafael Dolis worked the ninth for his fourth save in six chances for the Cubs, who won for only the fourth time in their last 13 games in St. Louis despite stranding a season-worst 14 runners.

Jake Westbrook became the latest Cardinals starter who couldn’t pitch deep into the game, allowing four runs on 11 hits in five innings. Of the other four pitchers during this run through the St. Louis rotation, only rookie Lance Lynn lasted six innings.

“I didn’t feel any added pressure, I put that on me every night no matter what the situation is,” Westbrook said. “I just didn’t get the job done.”

The Cardinals got swept by Atlanta over the weekend and hadn’t lost four straight at home since a five-game skid Aug. 14-20, 2010.

“Over the course of the season you’re going to have little ruts where you’re not getting the breaks and when you’re not playing well that compounds the problem,” Lance Berkman said. “This team’s got a lot of character. We knew it wasn’t going to be smooth sailing the whole year.”

Dempster gave up four hits over the first five innings before surrendering four runs on five hits in the sixth that tied it 4-4. Three of Dempster’s first five innings were perfect and he retired 10 of 11 batters from the second to the fifth inning — totaling just 27 pitches.

Soriano’s go-ahead RBI single off Mitchell Boggs (0-1) salvaged the Cubs’ eighth after the Cardinals turned an unusual 3-5-4 double play earlier in the inning. Berkman, the first baseman, fielded Starlin Castro’s popped-up bunt and threw to third to force David DeJesus, then David Freese’s relay to first was there in plenty of time to get Castro.

The Cubs still had Tony Campana on second, and after LaHair was intentionally walked, Soriano’s first hit in 10 career at-bats against Boggs — seven of them strikeouts — gave them the lead.

“It wasn’t a scalded dog, it just got out of the infield,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “It’s just where we are right now, we’re just going to have to fight.”

Freese’s wild throw to first in a bid for a double play on another bunt allowed an insurance run to score in the ninth against Boggs. The Cardinals committed a season-high three errors, two in the ninth.

Dempster entered with a majors-best 1.02 ERA, the lowest for a Cubs pitcher winless through the first five starts since the NL began tracking earned runs in 1912. He is 0-1 mainly because the Cubs have totaled just eight runs combined in his starts. The Cardinals got to Dempster after the Cubs’ four-run sixth, and the right-hander exited with a 1.74 ERA.

LaHair’s two-run homer was the highlight of the Cubs’ four-run fifth, and he added a pair of singles and his first career steal in the seventh.

“I just wanted to slow things down,” LaHair said. “I came off a rough series and I just wanted to get back on track and hit the ball hard and help the team.”

Yadier Molina’s two-run double and Skip Schumaker’s tying RBI single were the key hits in the Cardinals’ four-run sixth. Schumaker is a career .431 hitter against Dempster, the best ever against the right-hander with a minimum of 30 at-bats, according to STATS LLC.

One of the early hits in the rally was Matt Holliday’s liner off the left-field wall that gave Soriano a perfect rebound to hold him to a single.

— Associated Press —

All weekend, the Atlanta Braves got the key hits, got the big outs from their pitchers.

Jason Heyward had just three hits, but two of them put them ahead for good.

Heyward ended a 10-pitch at-bat with a bases-clearing double in third inning, helping the Braves give rookie Lance Lynn his first loss and beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-4 Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.

“It was a battle,” Heyward said. “I just tried to keep perfecting my timing on every pitch. I just wanted to get a pitch to hit and hit it, or get a walk.

“I know it took a lot of out of him.”

Tommy Hanson (4-3) allowed one run in five innings with a season-high nine strikeouts and Martin Prado, Freddie Freeman and Dan Uggla each had an RBI in a three-run seventh. The Braves had lost seven in a row in St. Louis before Friday and swept the Cardinals for the first time since Sept. 11-13, 2009, also in St. Louis.

All seven of Atlanta’s runs came with two outs.

“We’re rolling right now,” Hanson said. “We’re playing good baseball and doing good things on the road, so hopefully we can go back home and keep it up.”

The Heyward at-bat cost Lynn (6-1) a chance to become the franchise’s first pitcher to win his first seven starts of the season dating to 1920, according to STATS LLC.

“You don’t want to pitch to him in those situations,” Lynn said. “I walked two guys in front of him and you can’t do that and give a guy like that a chance. And he beat me.”

Carlos Beltran homered for the sixth time in six games with his league-leading 13th of the season and Allen Craig hit a three-run homer off Cristhian Martinez in the ninth for his third hit of the game and fifth homer in seven games.

Rafael Furcal had three hits and a walk to extend his hitting streak to 12 games, but the NL Central leaders struck out 14 times and stranded 10 runners while getting swept for the first time.

The Braves totaled 56 runs during a 7-2 trip, including a pair of extra-inning victories, and also swept a three-game series at Colorado. Since losing its first four games of the season, Atlanta is a major-league best 22-9 with four road series wins.

The Cardinals had runners on first and second with none out in the first before Hanson found his stride, and he struck out five of the next seven batters. Hanson fanned cleanup hitter Craig twice and permitted just one runner in scoring position the next four innings before tiring in the sixth.

“I felt good with everything and for the most part did a good job of locating,” Hanson said. “Nah, I didn’t get tired. But I just didn’t make quality pitches that inning.”

Lynn threw a season-high 121 pitches in six innings, retiring his last eight in order, but the Braves made him work early by fouling off 26 pitches the first three innings. He’s among three Cardinals to win their first six starts, along with Bob Tewksbury (1994) and Max Lanier (1946).

Lynn needed 26 pitches to escape unscathed in the first after the Braves put the first two on, and threw 39 more in the third. Heyward, whose 12th-inning two-run homer was the go-ahead hit on Friday, fouled off three pitches on a full count before his bases-clearing double.

Lynn struck out seven and has struck out 27 in 25 2/3 innings his past four starts.

Beltran had been 0 for 13 against Hanson before leading off the sixth with his 13th homer, and Craig and Lance Berkman followed with singles to chase Hanson. Eric O’Flaherty struck out pinch hitters Matt Holliday and Tyler Greene, the last with the bases loaded, to end the inning.

The Cardinals kept the Braves off the board in the first inning for the first time in the series, but were outscored 14-6 the last two games of the series.

Berkman, activated by the Cardinals from the 15-day disabled list from a calf injury before the game, was 1 for 5 with two strikeouts.

“I hadn’t played in a month, so I felt like I was pretty pleased with the at-bats for not having been in there,” Berkman said. “It’s just going to take some time.”

Chipper Jones entered in a double switch in the sixth and was 0 for 1 with a walk in his final regular season appearance in St. Louis. The 40-year-old Jones is retiring after the season and received a Cardinals jersey autographed by boyhood idol Stan Musial in a pregame ceremony.

“I’ve always enjoyed coming here and the fan base in St. Louis is part of that,” Jones said. “You can have an opposing player hit three home runs against the Cardinals and these fans will give him an ovation for a job well done.”

— Associated Press —