Kyle Lohse received a well-deserved, ice-water shower from his St. Louis teammates after picking up his 100th career win Sunday.

Lohse (12-8) gave up four runs — two earned — in the Cardinals’ 7-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. He allowed six hits, struck out four and walked two.

Lohse became the 36th active pitcher to reach the 100-win mark. He has 106 losses in his nine-year career.

“I’ve been around for a while and it’s nice to get a nice round number like that,” Lohse said. “To share it with my teammates is pretty cool.”

Lohse also put the Cardinals ahead to stay, getting an infield single in the fourth and scoring on Allen Craig’s sacrifice fly for a 5-4 lead.

Pittsburgh has lost four of its last six. The Pirates fell a season-high 18 games behind NL Central-leading Milwaukee.

Lohse, the team leader in wins this season, gave up a run in the first inning and three more in the second, with an error by shortstop Ryan Theriot contributing to the problems. Lohse retired his last eight batters and left after throwing 99 pitches.

“I think it was one of the more impressive wins he’s had all year,” St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. “He kept battling. He really kept his competitiveness together.”

Lohse gave up four runs and five hits to the first nine batters he faced. He then made a complete about-face, surrendering just one hit and one walk the rest of the way.

“He made a couple of adjustments,” St. Louis catcher Gerald Laird said. “He slowed down a little bit and really turned it around. The first two innings and then the last three, total opposites.”

Jason Motte picked up his first save of the season with a perfect ninth.

The Cardinals completed a 3-4 homestand. They got 11 hits without three-time NL MVP Albert Pujols, who was given a rare day off.

Matt Holliday, Skip Schumaker and Theriot each had two hits. Lance Berkman drew three walks, two of them intentional, and scored three times.

Jeff Karstens (9-8) gave up five earned runs in 3 2/3 innings.

“I didn’t make the pitches, that’s what it comes down to,” Karstens said. “Our offense gave me four runs. I should have made it work.”

Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said Karstens never found his rhythm.

“For whatever reason, he wasn’t as sharp as he’s been,” Hurdle said. “It just wasn’t there for him today.”

The Cardinals scored three runs in the first to take a 3-1 lead. Five of the first seven hitters reached base.

Pittsburgh answered with three runs in the second to go up 4-3. Ronny Cedeno had a run-scoring single, and Josh Harrison and Michael McKenry added doubles.

Theriot’s RBI single tied it in the third, and Lohse scored in the fourth.

David Freese brought in Holliday with a run-scoring single in the seventh to push the lead to 6-4.

“This was one of our better wins,” La Russa said. “A tough start, but we hung in there.”

— Associated Press —

The St. Louis Cardinals had their ace on the mound, facing a rookie making only his third start of the season. The matchup turned out to be perfect for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Brad Lincoln pitched six scoreless innings and participated in a smackdown of Chris Carpenter with an RBI double and walk in a 7-0 victory on Saturday.

“You’ve got to have confidence going out there and you’ve got to believe in your stuff and what got you here and what makes you who you are,” Lincoln said. “If you go out there with a doubt in your mind that you’re not going to get the job done, then I say bad things are going to happen.

“You’ve just got to go out there and attack and be who you are and don’t let anybody dictate what you can do.”

Josh Harrison had a career-high three RBIs and matched his career best with three singles. Garrett Jones also had three hits with a pair of doubles and Neil Walker homered for Pittsburgh, which shut out the Cardinals in St. Louis for the first time since an 11-0 victory on Sept. 3, 2007.

Harrison was having so much fun he forgot he’d been miked by Fox for the telecast.

“We’ve got quite a few young guys, but we’ve also got a few veterans in here who have helped us,” Harrison said. “We can help each other because we’re all in the same boat.”

The Pirates got spotless work from a rookie for the second time in four games, following Aaron Thompson’s 4 1/3 innings in his major league debut at home against the Brewers on Monday. Kevin Correia (oblique) may be out for the year and Paul Maholm (shoulder strain) also is on the 15-day disabled list.

“We thought we had some depth in the organization and in the system,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “We got to see that firsthand, up close and personal the last four games.”

Carpenter (8-9) lost for only the third time in 15 career decisions against Pittsburgh, trudging through five innings while giving up six runs and nine hits. He allowed five or more earned runs at home for the first time since Sept. 15, 2010 against the Cubs.

“Obviously, it’s not what you’re looking for,” Carpenter said. “I made some good pitches, I made some bad pitches and gave up too many runs.”

The 26-year-old Lincoln (1-0) scattered six hits with four strikeouts and a walk to earn his second career victory. He’s hit a pair of high notes, the other victory coming on a four-hit shutout at Chicago on June 30, 2010.

Lincoln had an RBI double for his first career extra-base hit in the fourth and walked and scored in the sixth. He is now a career .350 hitter (7 for 20) with four RBIs.

The Cardinals loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth on singles by Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday and a walk to Lance Berkman before Lincoln struck out Skip Schumaker.

Carpenter entered with 2.67 ERA at home and had worked eight innings three times in his last five appearances, including Monday when he limited the Dodgers to one run on five hits and left leading 1-0 in a 2-1 loss. This was not his worst outing — he gave up eight runs in four innings April 12 at Arizona.

“You have 30-some starts during the year, you’re going to have some rough ones,” manager Tony La Russa said. “This was one of his rough ones. It ended up not being much of a contest.”

Jones doubled with two outs and scored on Harrison’s single to put the Pirates ahead in the second. Pittsburgh batted around against the Cardinals’ ace in a four-run fourth that featured an RBI double by Lincoln and Harrison’s two-run single.

Walker hit his 11th homer, and third against the Cardinals, to make it 7-0 in the fifth. La Russa finally paid a visit to the mound after Jones and Harrison followed with singles, but with no one warming up.

La Russa used the same lineup for victories Thursday and Friday and had said he wouldn’t switch until the Cardinals lost, but changed his mind after Friday night’s game. Pujols, Holliday, Berkman and Yadier Molina were the only players in the same spots.

— Associated Press —

Two long shots was all it took for the St. Louis Cardinals. Not that Lance Berkman or Yadier Molina were swinging for the fences.

Berkman hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning and Molina had a three-run shot in the second, helping the Cardinals overcome a pair of deficits to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 on Friday night.

“You’re not stepping in the batters’ box saying ‘I need to hit a home run right here,'” Berkman said. “I don’t know that anybody ever does that and if they do, I may have done it a few times, it never works.

“Generally, you’re just saying ‘Hey, let’s get a good pitch to hit.'”

Matt Holliday walked with one out in the eighth against Jose Veras (2-4) before Berkman hit his 30th homer.

Berkman didn’t think the Cardinals were reliant on the long ball, but pointed out that most top offenses have a lot of power.

“You’re not going to score a lot of runs in the major leagues unless you have guys who hit the ball out of the ballpark,” Berkman said. “If you want to assemble a different roster, if you don’t like home runs, don’t watch us play.”

Andrew McCutchen had three hits and an RBI for the Pirates, who have dropped seven of 10 and are in a 10-27 tailspin since July 19 when they were seven games above .500.

Pittsburgh opened with three runs in the first but could have made it a much deeper hole for St. Louis.

“A big hit would have blown it open, there’s no doubt,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “We’ve been shaking the pom-poms for that throughout the season — one more hit in the big time with runners in scoring position.

“We were looking for one more hit and we didn’t get it.”

Hurdle gave no thought to getting closer Joel Hanrahan into the game in the eighth given Veras’ reliability. The right-hander had allowed one earned run in 12 1/3 innings his previous 13 appearances and leads Pittsburgh with 68 games.

The homer was the first allowed by Veras since July 31.

“Veras has probably done as much as any eighth-inning setup guy this year as far as pitching through the meat of the order and getting the ball to the closer,” Hurdle said. “It was down, but it was working back towards the barrel and into his swing path.”

The Pirates had one hit in their final 13 at-bats — McCutchen was caught stealing after singling to start the seventh — and they didn’t get the ball out of the infield against Kyle McClellan. Manager Tony La Russa said McClellan was pitching so well he had to let him start the ninth, but said Jason Motte would have relieved if Pittsburgh got a man on base.

Berkman reached 30 homers for the sixth time in his career, leaving him one behind teammate Albert Pujols for the NL lead, coming off a career-worst 14 homers in an injury-plagued 2010. The Cardinals’ 3-4-5 hitters had been 0 for 8 with three walks before the homer.

“He’s had a fantastic year,” Hurdle said. “You talk about some fine shopping in the offseason.”

St. Louis wore throwback 1985 jerseys in honor of Willie McGee bobblehead night, with the fan favorite center fielder throwing out the first pitch while accompanied by Ozzie Smith and Vince Coleman.

McClellan (10-6) struck out two in two perfect innings for the Cardinals, who overcame a shaky start from Jake Westbrook. Westbrook gave up three runs in the first and matched his season-high with five walks.

“When you have a slow start like that, it’s one of those things where you have to tell yourself you can’t give up anymore and that’s all they get,” Westbrook said. “Yaddy had a big homer and Lance an even bigger homer and that’s the reason why you have to hang in there and put up zeroes.”

The first four Pirates reached safely in the first, with McCutcheon and Ryan Doumit getting an RBI apiece, and Josh Harrison added a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead.

Molina’s fourth homer in seven games and 12th of the year, adding to a career best, tied it in the second. He has three homers and eight RBIs against the Pirates.

James McDonald had been bidding to beat the Cardinals for the second time in three starts. He was lifted after Rafael Furcal’s single to start the seventh, leaving up 4-3.

“I made one mistake, one pitch, and it was a three-run homer,” McDonald said. “It was a bad pitch and he made me pay for it. Overall, I was pleased.”

— Associated Press —

For the second straight day, the Los Angeles Dodgers leaned on a big inning. For the second straight day, the St. Louis Cardinals found themselves hopelessly behind.

Juan Rivera homered and knocked in three runs and the Dodgers scored an early knockout with a six-run third, completing their first road sweep of the season with a 9-4 victory on Wednesday. The Cardinals have been swept twice at home and Rivera homered in both, helping the Blue Jays take a three-game set from June 24-26 before the Dodgers traded for him in July.

“We’re putting up a lot of runs lately and we’re not stopping,” James Loney said. “We’ve had some big innings and we’re coming back and putting up some more.”

The Cardinals were outscored 24-7 in the Dodgers’ first three-game sweep in St. Louis since Aug. 20-22, 1993, and have dropped seven of nine overall. They failed to take advantage of a rare loss by NL Central-leading Milwaukee, remaining 10 games back with 32 to go.

“Especially when you get swept at home, that’s as bad as it can get,” manager Tony La Russa said. “The last two games, we’ve been out of it.”

Hiroki Kuroda (10-14) worked seven solid innings in 98-degree heat with a huge cushion and A.J. Ellis hit his first career homer off of Jaime Garcia (10-7) to give the Dodgers a two-day total of six long balls. Matt Kemp had two singles and two RBIs, his fourth multihit effort in five games, and Loney had three hits with a pair of doubles and an RBI.

“We’ve swung the bats good the last couple of days, but you look at the long haul and we really haven’t been able to sustain that,” manager Don Mattingly said.

Despite a 2.92 ERA, Kuroda needed 26 starts to get to double figures in victories. The Dodgers have totaled 24 runs his last three outings, all victories, but in 12 of his starts have scored two or fewer runs.

“I had a good rhythm from the beginning of the game, especially throwing that first-pitch breaking ball,” Kuroda said through an interpreter. “Having the run support makes a lot of difference.

“I was able to try out a lot of different patterns, unlike many other games I’ve had during the season.”

The Cardinals trailed 6-0 before Garcia got his first at-bat leading off the third and a day earlier it was 7-0 before Kyle Lohse struck out for the final out of the second.

La Russa said he wouldn’t do anything like asking veterans to hold a meeting, saying it would shift blame from the coaching staff to players.

“We’re all in this thing together, we talk all the time, and we’ll get it fixed together,” La Russa said. “Whether I talk or don’t talk or some talk, whatever.”

St. Louis was 1½ games behind the Brewers after acquiring Edwin Jackson and Rafael Furcal at the trade deadline, but is 10-13 since while the Brewers have gone 24-5. Gerald Laird hit his first National League homer, a two-run drive in the seventh and Skip Schumaker had four hits and an RBI for St. Louis.

Eight straight Dodgers reached safely to start a six-run third that matched their season best and put them up 6-1. The rally was kicked off by a pair of walks followed by six straight hits that produced at least one RBI.

Garcia said he should have taken more time between pitches. Instead, the lefty rushed it a bit.

“When stuff like that happens, you’ve got to step off and think about the pitch you’re going to make,” Garcia said. “Just relax for a little bit and try to limit the damage.

“I’m not going to lie, sometimes I don’t do a very good job. But I’m trying.”

Garcia, who had been 6-3 with a 2.06 ERA at home, finally recorded his first out of the inning on Kuroda’s sacrifice and gave up seven runs in five innings. He’s 0-3 in his last six starts and has lasted just five innings four of the last five outings.

Kuroda has won four of his last five starts and is 3-2 with a 2.11 ERA in six day starts. The right-hander allowed three runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and a walk.

The Dodgers finished 4-3 against the Cardinals for their first series win since 2003 and took the lead in the series at 1,002-1,001.

Schumaker had five straight hits, all singles, after pitching the ninth in a 13-2 shellacking Tuesday night.

— Associated Press —

Up eight runs after three innings, Clayton Kershaw went right after the hitters.

The 23-year-old lefty won his National League-leading 16th game and Rod Barajas homered twice in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 13-2 victory over the fast-fading St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.

“You definitely don’t pitch around anybody. You just attack,” Kershaw said. “You definitely don’t ever want to nibble with that kind of lead.”

Kyle Lohse (11-8) was rocked for a season-worst eight runs in three innings, an impossible deficit against Kershaw, who struck out eight in six scoreless innings. The Cardinals have lost six of eight and dropped a season-high 10 games behind the NL Central-leading Brewers with 33 games to go.

Manager Tony La Russa wasn’t interested in taking the long view.

“Today was terrible,” La Russa said. “Find Kyle and ask him because it was mystifying. They had a lot of good looks.”

Matt Kemp hit a three-run homer in the first and Barajas had a solo homer in the third and three-run shot in the fifth for his 11th multihomer game, also giving him four in five games. The Dodgers hit a season-high four homers while winning consecutive games in St. Louis for the first time since July 9-10, 2003, and will go for a three-game sweep on Wednesday behind Hiroki Kuroda.

Kershaw (16-5) is 8-1 with a 1.21 ERA in his last nine starts and hiked his NL-leading strikeout total to 207. The Cardinals threatened twice, but Kershaw struck out Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman with two on to end the first and struck out the side in the fourth to negate a double, infield hit and walk.

“You pick the right day to pitch sometimes,” Kershaw said. “The run support, that’s awesome. You don’t want to take those nights for granted.”

Kemp also doubled and scored in the second and needs one homer to become the second player in franchise history with 30 homers and 30 steals. Barajas is batting .381 (16-for-42) in August with five homers, three doubles and 16 RBIs in 13 games.

Yadier Molina and Rafael grounded into double plays to give the Cardinals 139 on the year, by far the most in the majors. Second baseman Skip Schumaker pitched the ninth and surrendered a solo homer to Aaron Miles, who had been the last Cardinals position player to pitch, twice last season.

“I kind of felt like that was my job over there for a while,” Miles joked. “I’ve played catch with Shoe probably about a thousand times so I know exactly what it looks like coming out of hand.

“He’s throwing 92 (mph), he provided all the power.”

Schumaker pitched in relief at UC-Santa Barbara and probably has the best outfield arm on the Cardinals.

“To give up home a homer to Miles, of all guys, is disappointing,” Schumaker said.

Lohse had been 5-1 with a 2.98 ERA against NL West opponents before coming up empty, with half of the Dodgers’ eight hits for extra bases. The right-hander had won his previous three decisions.

“One of those nights they just hit everything I threw,” Lohse said. “A lot balls that came back over the plate. I wasn’t hitting my spots well.”

La Russa passed on a chance to cut into Kershaw’s cushion when he allowed reliever Mitchell Boggs to bat with two outs and the bases loaded in the fourth, electing to save his bullpen. Boggs struck out on three pitches.

“You just do the math in the innings that we’ve got to play,” La Russa said.

— Associated Press —

Aaron Miles’ RBI triple keyed a two-run, ninth inning rally and the Los Angeles Dodgers came from behind to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 on Monday night.

Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter, who has never lost to Los Angeles, dominated the Dodgers for eight innings, shutting them out on five hits. Carpenter took a 1-0 lead into the ninth, but then hit Juan Rivera to start the frame.

Manager Tony La Russa brought in Arthur Rhodes, who struck out Andre Ethier. La Russa then went back to his bullpen, but that move backfired when Miles tripled to right center off Fernando Salas (5-5) to tie the game at 1-1.

La Russa then went to Jason Motte, who got Rod Barajas to ground sharply to short. But shortstop Rafael Furcal bobbled the ball briefly allowing Miles to score the go-ahead run.

The blown save was the fifth in 27 tries for Salas.

Matt Guerrier (4-3) pitched a scoreless eighth to get the win. Javy Guerra pitched the ninth for his 11th save in 12 opportunities.

James Loney went 3-for-4 for the Dodgers. Matt Kemp was 0-for-4 and had his 11-game hitting streak snapped.

Los Angeles rookie starter Nate Eovaldi allowed just a solo home run to Lance Berkman, his 29th, leading off the second inning. Eovaldi lasted five innings and allowed five hits while walking one and striking out two.

— Associated Press —

Albert Pujols hit his 31st home run and Yadier Molina homered twice as the St. Louis cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 6-2 on Sunday night.

Pujols had four hits and took the National League lead in homers. Matt Holliday added three. John Jay homered, doubled and scored twice for St. Louis.

Jake Westbrook (10-7) held the Cubs to seven hits and two runs in seven innings, beating Chicago for the first time in three starts this season as the Cardinals salvaged the last game of a three-game series.

Jason Motte and Fernando Salas finished off the Cubs with two perfect innings.

Rodrigo Lopez (4-4) took the loss, allowing four homers and five runs in 5 1/3 innings.

Aramis Ramirez had two hits and drove in both of Chicago’s runs.

— Associated Press —

For once, the Cubs gave Matt Garza a little support at Wrigley Field. Turned out he didn’t need much.

Garza pitched seven sharp innings, Aramis Ramirez homered and Chicago beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 Saturday.

Garza (6-9) scattered five hits, struck out eight and won at home for the first time since June 27.

“Usually we don’t hit or the bullpen blows it up when he pitches, for some reason,” Ramirez said. “He’s pitching better than his record indicates.”

Sean Marshall, Kerry Wood and Carlos Marmol finished off the shutout. Marmol earned his 29th save in 37 chances.

“With what Matt has been through this year with a lot of his starts, to see him pitch that well and get some run support made it even better for me,” Cubs manager Mike Quade said.

Garza had been solid at home lately with a 1.75 ERA in his previous five starts. But the Cubs had scored a total of just seven runs in those games, leaving him with an 0-2 record.

“I thought Garza was very good,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “I thought Edwin was too, he just had that one tough inning where he left a couple balls in the middle of the plate.”

“It wasn’t a fun day to be a hitter,” he said.

Ramirez’s two-run homer highlighted a three-run burst in the fourth off Edwin Jackson (2-2). Jackson allowed five hits in seven innings after leaving his last start with a right hamstring cramp.

“I came out aggressive from the beginning,” Jackson said. “It was just that one inning that I paid for a couple of balls left in the middle of the plate. That pretty much summed up the day.”

Early on, it looked as if it might be more of the same for Garza after Jackson held the Cubs hitless and faced the minimum through three innings. Things changed in the fourth as the Cubs hit for the cycle.

Starlin Castro led off with a single and Ramirez connected one out later for his 24th home run. Carlos Pena then tripled and Marlon Byrd doubled.

Ramirez’s homer was Chicago’s 29th in August, most in the majors and was his big league-leading 12th first-pitch shot this season.

“I’m Dominican,” Ramirez said. “We go out there and swing. We don’t walk much.”

The Cubs helped themselves by turning two double plays. Before the game, La Russa said his team’s propensity for hitting into DPs as “brutal.” St. Louis has hit into 136 double plays this season, by far the most in the majors.

“We’ve been talking about double plays all year,” St. Louis’ David Freese said. “We’ve hit into a lot of double plays and it kills rallies. Pretty simple.”

It was Jackson’s turn to be a hard-luck loser despite pitching effectively for the fourth time in five starts since he was traded to St. Louis. Jackson was making his first appearance in Chicago since being dealt by the crosstown White Sox on July 27.

Garza started slowly, allowing a leadoff double to Jon Jay in the first and later walking two batters to load the bases. That spurred Quade to come out for a quick chat.

“He just came out and said, ‘Hey,’ ” Garza said.

Garza recovered to get Freese on an inning-ending double play, the first of 10 straight batters he retired.

The attendance was announced at 42,374, up 31 from Friday’s gathering, which was the Cubs’ largest crowd since Opening Day in 1978.

It’s been a hectic stretch for the Cubs that has seen Friday’s firing of general manager Jim Hendry a few days after tempestuous pitcher Carlos Zambrano left the team during a game and ended up on the disqualified list.

Through it all, Garza has pitched well and the Cubs have played their best baseball of the season, winning 14 of 19.

“I got to come in and do my job,” Garza said. “I don’t want to be the next one out.”

— Associated Press —

A general manager switch, a record crowd, aerial fighter pilots, an extra-innings Cubs win, and an appearance by Larry King. All in all, it was quite a day at Wrigley Field.

Tyler Colvin’s RBI single in the 10th inning off Octavio Dotel lifted Chicago to a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.

“What a day,” Cubs manager Mike Quade said. “Man, oh man. A great comeback win and contributions all over the place.”

The Cubs responded in their first game following the firing of general manager Jim Hendry, who was let go about three hours before the game. He was replaced on an interim basis by assistant general manager Randy Bush.

“It’s a weird way to start the day,” Cubs starter Randy Wells said. “I really didn’t know what to think.”

Geovany Soto led off the 10th with a single off Dotel (0-2), advanced to second on Marlon Byrd’s sacrifice bunt, and scored on Colvin’s hit to center field.

“I was looking for a pitch to hit,” Colvin said. “I was a little antsy on the first two (pitches) and was lucky enough to get a better pitch to hit on the last one.”

Like most of the Cubs, Colvin spoke fondly of Hendry, who was very popular in the clubhouse.

“A little bit (more emotional),” Colvin said. “I got to meet him in 2006 when he drafted me. He’s always been good to me. It’s part of the business, I guess. It was great to get the win. We kept battling back and scratching back.”

Soto also had a game-tying RBI double in the eighth inning. Darwin Barney homered and tripled, and Starlin Castro added two hits for the Cubs. Sean Marshall (6-5) pitched a perfect 10th to earn the win.

Castro, who leads the NL with 162 hits, has 301 in his career. He is the fifth Cubs player to pass 300 in his first two seasons.

Chicago beat the rival Cardinals for just the third time in 10 games this season, delighting a home crowd of 42,343 — the largest at Wrigley Field since the home opener in 1978.

“It’s fun when they sell this place out,” Barney said. “It’s electric either way. When you’ve got that many people behind you — there’s a number of Cardinals fans out there and we hear them — but it’s fun.

“It’s fun to see a guy like Colvin come through like that. It just makes coming to the park fun when those kinds of things happen.”

Yadier Molina hit a two-run homer for the Cardinals, and David Freese added a solo shot.

King sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch. The fans enjoyed extra entertainment courtesy of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds practicing over Lake Michigan a few blocks east of the ballpark during the middle part of the game.

Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia left with a 4-3 lead after he scattered nine hits in 6 1/3 innings. Garcia, who entered the game hitting .085, added an RBI single.

“He had a little trouble the last inning he pitched,” St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. “He made some mistakes but overall he gave us a legitimate shot to win.”

Wells gave up four hits in seven innings and struck out five. He set down the Cardinals in order in four of his seven innings.

The Cubs nearly won the game in the ninth, but ran themselves out of the inning.

Tony Campana reached first leading off the ninth when second baseman Ryan Theriot bobbled a routine grounder for an error. Campana darted for second on a steal attempt as Castro flied to center, lost track of the ball, and was easily doubled off first base.

“I think that’s the first mistake I’ve seen him make up here,” Quade said. “I don’t think he’ll make that again.”

After trailing for 7 1/2 innings, the Cubs tied it 4-4 in the eighth. Soto’s double into the left-field corner scored Carlos Pena from first base.

Molina’s second-inning homer opened the scoring, and Garcia’s single up the middle scored Theriot to make it 3-0. Freese hit a solo shot in the fourth to put the Cardinals ahead 4-1. He has an RBI in seven of his past eight games.

Barney brought the Cubs within 4-2 with his second homer of the season, landing a shot barely into the basket in the left-field corner. His previous homer was April 25 against Colorado.

“I’d seen all fastballs and I got to a 1-1 count,” Barney said. “I was looking maybe curveball, he was throwing a lot of breaking pitches to righties early in that game. I was kind of looking for something off-speed and he threw a changeup. Fortunately, it was just far enough.”

Barney added a triple when Lance Berkman overran a blooper into the right-field corner in the seventh. He scored when pinch hitter Blake DeWitt’s fly to center was misplayed by John Jay, and the ball rolled to the wall for another triple.

“When I went to go catch it, my foot slipped,” Berkman said. “I kicked a divot.

“This is a terrible place. This is probably one of the top five worst places to play defense. It’s a bad surface, you can’t see. It’s tough. It’s unfortunate that happened on back-to-back plays.”

With DeWitt on third and one out, representing the tying run, Jason Motte relieved Garcia and worked out of the jam by striking out Castro and getting Johnson on a grounder.

The back-and-forth game came after an uneasy morning for the Cubs. All in all, it was a strange day.

“That would be the understatement of the day,” Quade said. “Weird, I guess, I can’t come up with another adjective. We dealt with (the Hendry news) before (the game) and I’m thrilled to death by the way the guys played.”

— Associated Press —

Allen Craig was looking for his first hit in two months, hoping to cast aside an 0-for-11 slide that included a lengthy stay on the disabled list after he fractured his right kneecap in early June.

He definitely needed this one.

Craig homered twice and had three RBIs Wednesday night to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Craig went 4-for-5 and Yadier Molina added three hits for the Cardinals, who salvaged the final game of a three-game set in hopes of staying within shouting distance of the front-running Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central.

“That was definitely a big win to kind of stop things there,” Craig said. “It would have been tough to lose this game, definitely.”

Craig had struggled since his return from the disabled list last Wednesday, going hitless in nine at-bats. He worked the count full against Paul Maholm in the first abd then — perhaps a little anxious to bust loose — swung at a pitch near his eyes even though Albert Pujols was on deck.

Maholm heard the ball come off the bat and figured it was a routine popup to center. It wasn’t. The ball sailed into the Cardinals bullpen to give St. Louis a quick 2-0 lead.

“I don’t know why he swung, he should have just at taken it for a walk,” Maholm said. “But obviously it looked good to him.”

Craig added a solo shot in the seventh off Brad Lincoln for his first career multihomer game. It was the kind of positive reinforcement he needed after a longer than expected visit to the DL.

He anticipated being out three to six weeks after slamming into the wall in Houston. It was nearly two months before he was back on the field.

“It’s tough to put a timetable on something like that,” Craig said. “It’s a unique injury in a unique spot and eight weeks is what it was. I busted my butt to get my legs strong and rehab.”

St. Louis manager Tony La Russa would like to play Craig more often, but it’s difficult when the team is healthy. But with a left-hander on the mound, La Russa figured Craig needed to start.

“When he’s healthy, I’ve said it several times, I’d like to get him into the lineup,” La Russa said. “This was the perfect time — a left-hander, give Lance (Berkman) two days off, but it’s no hunch. The guy’s already proven he deserves some playing time.”

Kyle Lohse (11-7) picked up his 99th career victory by pitching seven solid innings. The right-hander allowed two runs and five hits, struck out seven and walked one.

Maholm (6-14) dropped his fifth straight decision, giving up three runs — all in the first — and eight hits in five innings.

Though Maholm’s numbers are solid this season, he’s consistently run into trouble in the first inning. He started the game giving up a team-high 15 first-inning runs this season, and St. Louis wasted little time adding to that total.

Craig’s drive kickstarted the offense, and the Cardinals made it 3-0 on a run-scoring single by Molina.

Lohse nearly matched Maholm’s early troubles, loading the bases in the bottom of the first. But he escaped when Ryan Ludwick’s sinking line drive to right field was corralled by Craig.

“It was a little scary there in the first, but after that I felt like I got rolling,” Lohse said.

Lohse settled down after that, retiring nine straight at one point and striking out the side in the fourth.

“That was a product of getting to what I’ve been doing all year when I’m successful: just getting ahead of guys and coming right at them,” Lohse said. “It’s not going to happen every time like that, but when you’re getting ahead of guys and making them swing at your pitches, you’re usually going to have more success than not.”

Lohse’s only mistake came when Jose Tabata hit a two-run homer to right in the fifth.

There was some sentiment to Tabata’s hit. The game marked his first career start in right field and he has spoken openly about emulating legendary Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente, who played the same position in Pittsburgh for 18 seasons.

Tabata’s home run sailed just over the “Clemente Wall” — adorned with Clemente’s retired No. 21 — but the joy would be temporary.

St. Louis increased its lead to 4-2 when Ryan Theriot scored on Lohse’s groundout in the sixth.

Some sloppy Pittsburgh defense in the eighth helped the Cardinals put it out of reach. First baseman Garrett Jones bobbled a routine grounder by Jon Jay, who later scored when third baseman Brandon Wood threw wild to first trying to get a hustling Craig.

That was more than enough for the Cardinals, who have seen first place fall almost out of sight this month. They began August 2½ games behind the Brewers but have failed to find any traction.

They were hoping to get better during a six-game swing through Pittsburgh and Chicago, but the trip started with a thud. The Cardinals were dominated on Monday night and let a late lead slip away on Tuesday when they eventually lost on Jones’ 11th-inning homer off Arthur Rhodes that landed in the Allegheny River.

There were no such issues on Wednesday thanks to Craig’s rare power surge.

— Associated Press —