NEW YORK (AP) — The only thing Jenrry Mejia popped Monday night was his fastball.

Showing off a sizzling heater with wicked movement, Mejia pitched four-hit ball into the seventh inning and led the New York Mets over the St. Louis Cardinals 2-0.

Mejia (3-0) bounced back well from a torn blister on his right middle finger that limited him to five innings in his last start. The 24-year-old righty began the game by getting Matt Carpenter to look at three straight strikes, and rarely was in trouble.

“Coming off the blister … we weren’t sure what he was going to give us,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “He gave us more than we expected, for sure.”

David Wright lined an early RBI single that extended his hitting streak to 12 games and Kyle Farnsworth earned his first save as the New York’s newest closer.

On an evening when the Mets debuted new camouflage tops to salute the military, they looked sharp, particularly on a double play started by shortstop Ruben Tejada.

The Cardinals lost for the third time in four games.

“Their shortstop kind of stopped any kind of rally from happening,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said.

“Being frustrated, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that,” he said after the NL champions were shut out for the third time this year. “I think the bigger story is that our offense will get going on a consistent basis.”

Mejia struck out seven in 6 2/3 innings and walked three. He stretched his scoreless streak to 13 2/3 innings.

Mejia said the blister was hardly a concern. The St. Louis hitters were the ones having trouble, not him.

“They know my fastball moves,” he said.

Scott Rice and Carlos Torres each got two outs before Farnsworth, the Mets’ third closer this year, pitched the ninth for his first save.

Farnsworth inherited the role after Bobby Parnell needed Tommy John surgery and Jose Valverde struggled. Farnsworth had two saves last season for Pittsburgh.

Tyler Lyons (0-1) lost in his first major league game of the season. Promoted from Triple-A Memphis earlier in the day to take the rotation spot of injured Joe Kelly, he allowed two runs and six hits in six innings.

A 26-year-old lefty with a big-breaking slider, Lyons struck out seven. He’s another in the long line of tall, homegrown pitchers developed by the Cardinals, and went 2-4 last year in his first big league season.

Lyons struck out the first two batters in the third before Eric Young Jr. singled for the Mets’ first hit. Slumping Curtis Granderson was hit by a pitch and Wright singled for a 1-0 lead.

Lyons’ throwing error on a tapper set up another run in the sixth. Daniel Murphy walked, later stole third and scored on a single by Travis d’Arnaud.

Mejia escaped his biggest jam in the sixth when, with runners at the corners and one out, he retired Matt Holliday on a popup and Matt Adams on a grounder.

The previous inning, the Mets backed Mejia with a sweet double play. Tejada dived to stop Jon Jay’s grounder up the middle and flipped to Murphy, and the second baseman made a barehanded catch and spun quickly for the relay.

“Tremendous double play,” Collins praised.

— Associated Press —

WASHINGTON (AP) — Denard Span’s approach with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning proves math pays off.

Facing a five-man infield, Span hit a sacrifice fly in the ninth and the Washington Nationals, with Bryce Harper back in the lineup and stealing his first base of the season, rallied past the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 Sunday.

The Nationals loaded the bases against Seth Maness (0-1) when Danny Espinosa singled through third baseman Matt Carpenter’s legs with one out for his third hit, Jose Lobaton singled through the right side of the infield and pinch hitter Nate McLouth walked.

In his second game since being activated from the seven-day disabled list following a concussion, Span lofted a fly to left field. Espinosa easily beat the throw from Jon Jay, who shifted over from right field as St. Louis brought in an extra infielder.

“I counted: one, two, three, four, five,” Span said. “Right there I told myself a groundball probably not going to do it. Try to get the ball in the air somehow.”

After Espinosa crossed home, the Nationals mobbed Span, who suddenly had something else on his mind.

“I was screaming so loud, so into the moment, but at the same time I’m thinking don’t hit me upside the head too hard because I just came off the DL,” said the smiling center fielder, who grounded out with the bases full in the sixth before delivering the game-winner.

The Nationals split the four-game series. They had lost eight of the previous nine meetings with the Cardinals going into the series wrap-up.

“That’s a play I’m expecting to make and a play that I expect myself to make and I didn’t make it,” Carpenter said of his ninth-inning whiff. “It ended up costing us.”

Harper started in left field and went 1 for 4. The two-time All-Star was pulled from the game a day earlier for what manager Matt Williams called a “lack of hustle” after he failed to run out a comebacker to the mound.

The two spoke before Sunday’s game.

“I sat with him for a couple of minutes in his locker and told him I’m confident in him and I’m proud of him and he was going to have impact today, which he did,” Williams said.

Harper had a somewhat different take on the conversation with Williams, as far as length goes.

“He just said, ‘Go get ’em.’ That’s the three words he said,” Harper said. “It’s good to get back out there and play and be part of a win.”

Harper was left stranded at second base as the possible go-ahead run as Anthony Rendon struck out against Pat Neshek in the eighth.

Rafael Soriano (1-0) pitched one inning for the win.

The Cardinals took an early edge against Stephen Strasburg and led 2-0 going into the seventh.

Washington tied the game with four straight singles off reliever Carlos Martinez, including RBI hits from Ian Desmond and Espinosa.

Strasburg struck out nine in six innings.

Shelby Miller left with the lead after pitching 5 1/3 innings for the Cardinals. He also hit a two-out, RBI double off Strasburg in the fourth.

St. Louis starting pitchers recorded an RBI in three of the four games versus Washington. Miller allowed four hits, striking out seven and walking five.

Matt Adams doubled twice and scored for the Cardinals.

“I was pretty happy we were able to put a couple together and obviously a big hit by Shelby,” manager Mike Matheny said. “That gives you a little bit of room and then we get the ball into the hands of guys we like to give the ball to. Good offenses are going to put together tough at-bats on tough pitching, and today they got us.”

True, though it took some doing. Washington left 17 runners on base and went 2 of 12 with runners in scoring position.

“Talk about those opportunities and giving ourselves that multiple times in the game, you like your chances, certainly,” Williams said. “Especially against a good team like that we want to create those. I don’t know how many guys we had on base today but it felt like a lot.”

— Associated Press —

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lance Lynn was sharper than he had had been all season, which made it all the more frustrating for him when he failed to make it out of the sixth inning.

Bryce Harper didn’t get past the sixth inning either, but for a completely different reason.

Lynn won his fourth straight start and delivered an RBI double after yet another error by Washington, and the St. Louis Cardinals scored three unearned runs to beat Jordan Zimmermann and the Nationals 4-3 Saturday.

Lynn (4-0) gave up one run and five hits over 5 2/3 innings in becoming the NL’s first four-game winner. After the right-hander lost his control in the sixth, Kevin Siegrist retired Danny Espinosa on a two-out fly ball with the bases loaded.

“I’m not going to lie to you, my stuff was better today than it’s been all year,” Lynn said. “That’s the disappointing thing about the way the game finished for me today.”

Harper, meanwhile, was pulled after Nationals first-year manager Matt Williams questioned the manner in which the young outfielder ran out a comebacker leading off the sixth.

“Lack of hustle. That’s why he came out of the game,” Williams said. “He and I made an agreement, this team made an agreement, that when we play the game, that we hustle at all times.”

Now in his third season, the 21-year-old Harper is one of Washington’s brightest stars. The two-time All-Star once ran into a wall in the relentless pursuit of a fly ball, but on this day Harper was left explaining an act of nonchalance.

“I respect what he did,” Harper said of Williams’ decision. “That’s part of the game.”

Tony Cruz drove in two runs for the Cardinals, who have won nine of the last 10 games between the teams.

St. Louis took control with a three-run second inning fueled by third baseman Anthony Rendon’s throwing error, capped by Lynn’s first career extra-base hit. The Nationals, under former Gold Glove third baseman Williams, are averaging more than an error per game and lead the majors in miscues.

“I feel like we made a mistake, a couple of minor mistakes that cost us, but we were in the game,” Williams said.

Trevor Rosenthal worked the ninth for his fifth save, but not without difficulty. Washington put runners on second and third with one out, and Kevin Frandsen drove in a run with a groundout before Rosenthal struck out Jayson Werth on three pitches.

Frandsen was batting in Harper’s spot in the lineup.

“Kevin Frandsen put on a nice ‘AB’ against Rosenthal,” Williams said, “but (Harper’s) spot came up with the ability to win the game. And that’s a shame for his teammates.”

Said Harper: “Man, that’s tough to watch, not being able to be up there in that situation. It’s something that I thrive on and I want to be in. You know, it’s in the past and there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

Williams said Harper would start Sunday in the series finale.

Espinosa homered for the Nationals, but he was the only player to get past first base against Lynn until the sixth.

Zimmermann (1-1) allowed four runs, only one of them earned, in seven innings. He struck out six and walked two after coming in with a 0-3 with an 8.27 ERA in six career games against the Cardinals.

Zimmermann took the loss but probably deserved a better fate. The right-hander has beaten every NL team except St. Louis and Pittsburgh (one start).

St. Louis bolted in front for good in the second inning. After Rendon threw wide on a potential force play at second, Cruz sliced a two-out, two-run single to right field and scored on a double by Lynn. It was the pitcher’s first extra-base hit in 115 career at-bats and his fourth RBI.

“I was trying to hold it to a single,” Lynn joked. “I don’t like to run.”

The tainted inning extended a series trend that began Thursday night, when the Nationals made three errors, and continued Friday when Washington scored two unearned runs in a 3-1 win.

Espinosa led off the fifth with his first home run since last May 5.

In the Washington sixth, Werth singled and Adam LaRoche walked before Rendon looked at a third strike after getting ahead in the count 3-0. Lynn then walked Ian Desmond on four pitches before Siegrist retired Espinosa.

Matt Holliday delivered a two-out RBI single for St. Louis in the seventh, and successive doubles by LaRoche and Rendon got Washington to 4-2 in the eighth.

— Associated Press —

WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington’s Ian Desmond took a substantial lead off third base in the seventh inning of a tie game, wondering whether St. Louis pitcher Michael Wacha might leave a changeup in the dirt.

“I was just kind of anticipating,” Desmond explained later.

Sure enough, Wacha threw a wild pitch that bounced away from catcher Yadier Molina, who compounded the problem with a throwing error as Desmond charged home, leading to a second unearned run on the play. That was enough to propel Gio Gonzalez and the Nationals to a 3-1 victory Friday night, ending their eight-game losing streak against the Cardinals.

“I saw it bounce off a little bit. I said, `We’ve got to take a chance here,” Desmond said. “And fortunately for us, it worked out.”

Said Nationals managed Matt Williams: “You never see a ball get away from Yadi. Ever.”

That’s because Molina has won six consecutive NL Gold Glove awards. But his miscue fit, somehow, with this series so far. A night after the Nationals made three errors — they initially were charged with four, but one was changed to a hit Friday — in an 8-0 loss, it was the Cardinals’ turn to be sloppy.

St. Louis finished with three errors, two coming in the pivotal seventh inning.

A pair of singles and an error by third baseman Matt Carpenter — who dropped Wacha’s throw of Danny Espinosa’s bunt — loaded the bases with no outs.

“I stretched before I saw where it was going and ended up missing it. It was a good throw. I should have caught it,” Carpenter said. “But it tipped off my glove and ended up being the difference in the game.”

Wacha struck out Nate McLouth and got Jose Lobaton to hit a roller that led to a forceout at home. But with pinch hitter Zach Walters up, Wacha’s pitch darted to his catcher’s right.

“Just spiked a changeup,” Wacha said.

Molina tried to make an underhand toss to Wacha, but the throw — which did not appear in time to beat Desmond, anyway — was off-target. It went into the Cardinals’ dugout, allowing Espinosa to score, too.

“I’m just trying to make a play,” Molina said. “I threw it away. My fault.”

Desmond shouted and punched the air, a 1-1 game suddenly 3-1.

“Desi made the decision instantly to get toward the plate,” Williams said. “He read it correctly.”

Wacha (2-1) gave up five hits and one earned run. On Sept. 24, in his ninth career start, Wacha no-hit the Nationals until there were two outs in the ninth inning, when Ryan Zimmerman’s infield single ended the bid.

This time, Washington had three hits by the third, when Anthony Rendon’s solo shot came off a first-pitch 74 mph curveball.

Gonzalez (3-1) allowed one run and four hits in seven innings, retiring the last 11 batters he faced. He had seven strikeouts and one walk as Washington beat St. Louis for the first time since Game 4 of the teams’ 2012 NL division series.

“It was one of those games that we needed. We needed to bounce back,” Gonzalez said about Friday. “We needed something like this. It put us back together. Now we go from here, one game at a time.”

Nationals reliever Tyler Clippard came on for the eighth and needed 26 pitches just to get one out. With runners on second and third, and No. 3-4 batters Matt Holliday and Allen Craig coming up, Clippard was replaced by Drew Storen.

“You’ve got two great hitters right there, guys in scoring position,” Storen said.

He was the closer back in October 2012, when he let the Cardinals erase a 7-5 deficit with two outs in the top of the ninth of Game 5 to win 9-7.

But this time, Storen got Holliday on a popup in foul territory, then Craig on a groundout, before Rafael Soriano shook off a comebacker that hit his leg and a walk in the ninth to earn his fourth save.

“A good win. They’re a tremendous team. They’ve gotten the best of us in the past,” Rendon said. “But we’re trying to change that.”

— Associated Press —

WASHINGTON (AP) — Adam Wainwright threw a two-hitter Thursday night for his seventh career shutout, chipped in at the plate with a double and a single, and St. Louis benefited from four errors by Washington in the Cardinals’ 8-0 victory.

Wainwright (3-1) allowed Ian Desmond’s infield single in the second inning and Adam LaRoche’s single to right in the ninth. He struck out eight and walked three. During one dominant stretch, the runner-up for the 2013 NL Cy Young award retired 18 consecutive batters.

This was the right-hander’s 17th complete game and his fourth two-hitter.

Desmond, Washington’s shortstop, made a pair of errors, raising his season total to seven. The Nationals have 20 through 16 games, an average of 1.25.

Wainwright threw 110 pitches and finished the game by striking out Desmond.

Taylor Jordan (0-1) gave up seven runs, five earned, in 5 1-3 innings.

Matt Adams drove in three runs, Matt Holliday two, and the Cardinals finished with 14 hits. Everyone got in on the act: All nine members of the starting lineup had at least one hit.

St. Louis has won eight in a row against Washington, dating to Game 5 of the 2012 NL division series.

So far this season, the Nationals have beaten weaker opponents, going a combined 8-1 against the Mets and Marlins, and really struggled against better teams, going 1-6 against the Braves and Cardinals.

Remnants of last season, when the Nationals went 6-13 against the Braves, 0-6 against the Cardinals. It is as if Washington sees those clubs and forgets the basics of baseball.

“If you don’t play well against these guys, you’re probably going to get beat,” Nationals manager Matt Williams said before Thursday’s game. “We understand that we have to play the game right and play it well to have a chance to win.”

It was as if his players set out to prove him right.

The game’s first batter, Matt Carpenter, sent a seemingly routine grounder to Desmond, who failed to field the ball cleanly. Then Kolten Wong’s swinging bunt was grabbed by Jordan, but the pitcher could not manage to get the ball out of his glove. That, at least, was ruled a hit.

Up came Holliday, who bounced a double past diving third baseman Anthony Rendon to drive in a run. An RBI groundout scored another, and Yadier Molina’s single through a drawn-in infield made it 3-0.

There was more sloppiness in the fourth, when Desmond’s throwing error was compounded by an error on second baseman Danny Espinosa, who dropped the ball making the transfer on a potential double play, resulting in an RBI for Wainwright that gave St. Louis a 4-0 lead.

The Cardinals kept tacking on runs, including one off rookie reliever Blake Treinen. Nationals right fielder Jayson Werth dropped a flyball in the eighth, but St. Louis didn’t score that inning.

— Associated Press —

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke realizes one victory doesn’t necessarily end the St. Louis Cardinals’ recent dominance over the Brewers.

But it’s a start.

Wily Peralta allowed one run in 6 1/3 innings, and the Brewers beat the Cardinals 5-1 Wednesday to avoid a series sweep.

Milwaukee, which entered the series with a nine-game winning streak, had one run and six hits in losing the first two games to St. Louis. The Cardinals won last year’s season series 14-5.

“What’s really important — most important — is we lost two games to begin the series and we got that game back,” Roenicke said. “It’s important against our division, but we have to win more games than they do. It’s not head to head. We have to win more games this season then they do. That’s what we’re playing for.”

Peralta (2-0) allowed six hits and struck out three, and three pitchers combined for scoreless relief.

“He was a show-stopper today,” Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy said. “He stopped their momentum and shut them down. He was a lot of fun to catch.”

Cardinals starter Joe Kelly (1-1) gave up an unearned run and three hits in four innings. Kelly left in the middle of the fourth inning with left hamstring tightness after trying to beat out a bunt attempt in the top half.

“I felt like I tried to step a little quicker, maybe a little overextend and hit the bag a little bit before it and ended up tweaking it,” said Kelly, who said he was scheduled to return to St. Louis for additional examination and treatment. “I was feeling pretty good. I had three pitches working for me first time the whole year. I had a slider, and a pretty good curve ball breaking down and had some velocity on my fastball and was locating it.”

Milwaukee went ahead in the third inning when first baseman Matt Adams misplayed Logan Schafer’s leadoff bouncer for an error, Peralta sacrificed and Carlos Gomez hit an RBI double to the wall in right-center, one pitch after bunting foul.

The Brewers boosted the lead to 4-0 in the fifth against Seth Maness. Wily Peralta reached when his two-out liner went off the glove of shortstop Jhonny Peralta. Gomez walked, Jean Segura reached on an infield single, Lucroy followed with a two-run single and Aramis Ramirez had an RBI single.

“I saw the replay,” Roenicke said on Wily Peralta’s hit. “I thought the ball did something funny on him. When they showed the replay from the center-field camera, you can see the ball slowly turn over, which gives you the idea it’s going to knuckle a little bit. It kind of jumped behind him.”

Allen Craig hit his first home run of the season, a sixth-inning drive off Peralta. Pat Neshek walked pinch-hitter Lyle Overbay with the bases loaded in the eighth.

— Associated Press —

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Shelby Miller struck out seven and allowed three hits over six innings, and Mark Ellis had two RBIs in his return from the disabled list to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 6-1 win Tuesday night over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Matt Holliday and Jhonny Peralta each hit solo shots in the ninth off reliever Jim Henderson for the Cardinals, who handed Milwaukee its second straight loss following a nine-game winning streak.

Miller (1-2) routinely fired fastballs clocked into the mid-90s past hitters before turning the game over to the bullpen in the seventh.

Only Aramis Ramirez managed to break through off Miller hitting a solo homer in the fourth. The Brewers have just one run and six hits over the first two games of the three-game set with their NL Central rival.

Marco Estrada (1-1) took the loss after allowing three runs over six innings.

The right-hander, who was off to a good start with a 2.31 ERA entering Tuesday, had a little uncharacteristic trouble with his command. He hit Yadier Molina with a pitch in the second and threw a wild pitch in the fourth.

Still, Estrada allowed just five hits, which would have been more than adequate pitching during the Brewers’ long winning streak.

But that was before Milwaukee had to face the aces from St. Louis.

On Monday night, Lance Lynn shut down the Brewers, striking out 11 over seven innings. Miller was just as effective. He got Jean Segura to ground out to second and caught Ryan Braun looking on a 94 mph fastball to start the fourth.

The only big mistake was a fastball down the middle of the plate that Ramirez turned on for his second homer and team-best 12th RBI.

Miller, a 23-year-old righty, recovered nicely to end the fourth by getting Jonathan Lucroy to hit a one-hopper to first.

The Cardinals had built a 3-0 lead by the top of the fourth to back Miller. After missing the season’s first 13 games with left knee tendinitis, Ellis made a nice debut by driving in a run in the second on a groundout, and another in the fourth off a sacrifice fly.

St. Louis could have picked up a few more runs if not for a few blunders around the bases.

Allen Craig had an RBI double in the third but the inning ended after Estrada spun around to successfully pick him off. An inning later, both Matt Adams and Peralta were thrown out in rundowns in between third and home.

— Associated Press —

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Brewers’ nine-game winning streak was snapped Monday night when Lance Lynn struck out 11 in seven innings and Jon Jay hit a three-run homer for the St. Louis Cardinals in a 4-0 victory.

Lynn allowed three hits over seven innings before Carlos Martinez finished off the surprising Brewers, who still have the majors’ best record at 10-3. Lynn (3-0) frustrated hitters by mixing a fastball that topped 95 mph with a slider.

Jhonny Peralta hit a solo shot in the second off Brewers starter Matt Garza (0-2) before Jay sent a ball over the wall near the right field corner in the sixth.

Garza dueled Lynn until running into trouble in the sixth after Craig reached on a fielder’s choice with two outs and Peralta singled to set up Jay’s homer.

Lynn cooled off a Brewers team that was off to its best start since opening the 1987 season with 13 straight wins.

Lynn had Brewers batters missing all night. Jonathan Lucroy, a .357 hitter entering Monday, missed badly on a fastball low in the zone in the second for a strikeout. Two batters later, Scooter Gennett was left frozen at the plate on a called third strike on a heater outside.

Milwaukee’s best hope to score came in the fifth after No. 8 hitter Logan Schafer doubled to right with two outs to put runners at second and third. But that brought Garza, a career .094 hitter, to the plate and he struck out on three pitches.

Otherwise, the Brewers didn’t get another runner past second. Lynn boasted a career 2.53 ERA in 10 games against the Brewers coming in, and his mastery of Milwaukee continued.

With Lynn in control, about the only other drama provided by the Cardinals was when leadoff hitter Matt Carpenter was ejected in the fifth after apparently saying something to umpire Bob Davidson following a called third strike.

Garza allowed nine hits and four runs, and struck out six in seven innings for Milwaukee. Rookie reliever Wei-Chung Wang, a Rule 5 pick, pitched a scoreless ninth in making his big league debut.

Jean Segura, who was batting 1 for 19 at home entering Monday, had two of the hits against Lynn.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS — (AP) Michael Wacha doesn’t mind a little bad weather.

Wacha had to wait out yet another lengthy rain delay, Matt Carpenter drove in three runs and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 6-4 Sunday.

St. Louis took two of three from the Cubs and has won four of six. Chicago has lost three of four.

Rain has figured in all three of Wacha’s starts this season. He actually seemed to embrace a third-inning downpour that halted play against the Cubs for 46 minutes.

“I’m used to it,” he said. “You just have to accept it and you’ve got to stay focused. I tried to stay loose and just keep my mind in what I needed to do.”

Wacha’s first start of the season was delayed before first pitch by 2 hours, 40 minutes. He endured a short 12-minute delay at the outset of his second outing.

Wacha (2-0) allowed three runs and five hits in 6 1/3 innings Sunday. He gave up a two-run homer to Anthony Rizzo on the 16th pitch of the game, but yielded just one run on three hits the rest of the way. He struck out eight and walked one.

“At the start, I was a little erratic, but I was able to settle down a little bit,” he said. “I got some quick innings and some quick outs.”

St. Louis manager Mike Matheny says Wacha has the mental makeup to handle lengthy or short delays.

“He’s strong and he knows what to do out there,” Matheny said. “He keeps a good focus. I felt like his curveball was a lot better after the delay.”

Carpenter hit a two-run single in the second inning and added a sacrifice fly in the fourth that put St. Louis ahead to stay at 4-3. He is tied with Yadier Molina for the team lead with nine RBI.

“It felt good to get the job done,” Carpenter said. “When you get up in those situations, you just try and put a good at-bat up there and I thought I did that.”

Trevor Rosenthal gave up a run in the ninth, but retired Luis Valbuena and Emilio Bonifacio with the tying runs on base to pick up his fourth save in four opportunities.

Chicago starter Edwin Jackson (0-1) allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings. He struck out five and walked three in a grueling 114-pitch effort.

“I didn’t feel too bad,” Jackson said. “I threw a lot of pitches. I was behind in a lot of counts. They were aggressive, that’s a good hitting team.”

Jhonny Peralta highlighted a two-run eighth with an RBI double that put St. Louis up 6-3.

Rizzo got his club started with his second homer of the season.

“I just got extended,” Rizzo said. “I was lucky enough to get the barrel on it.”

After Carpenter singled in two runs in the second, he stole second and scored on Kolten Wong’s single for a 3-2 lead.

The Cubs tied the game in the fourth on a run-scoring single by Welington Castillo.

Carpenter then gave St. Louis the lead for good with a sacrifice fly to left that brought in Peter Bourjos, who began the fourth inning with a triple.

“We did the things we had to at the right times to win,” Carpenter said.

Trailing 4-3, Mike Olt led off the Cubs seventh with a double off Wacha. Castillo struck out and reliever Kevin Siegrist retired Darwin Barney and Bonifacio to end the threat.

Siegrist retired all five batters he faced.

“We had some chances, just couldn’t get hits at the right time,” Rizzo said.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Adam Wainwright’s day started as badly as it could but ended up just fine.

Wainwright gave up Junior Lake’s homer on his first pitch and allowed six more hits and three runs after that. But he saved a tired bullpen by sticking around for seven innings Saturday and leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 10-4 win over the Chicago Cubs.

It was hardly a vintage performance by Wainwright (2-1), who struck out eight and helped his own cause with an RBI single. The four runs were twice as many as he yielded in his first two starts.

“It was OK,” said Wainwright, who led the majors with 241 2/3 innings pitched last year. “I think because our offense was so great, I did what they needed me to do, just go a little later in the game and give the bullpen guys some rest.”

St. Louis relievers Carlos Martinez, Kevin Siegrist and Trevor Rosenthal all threw more than 20 pitches in Friday night’s 11-inning loss.

“We needed that,” manager Mike Matheny said about Wainwright’s outing. “There were a couple of guys we were wanting to stay away from, for sure.”

In hindsight, Wainwright said there were only a few pitches he wanted back — including his first one.

“He’s an aggressive hitter,” Wainwright said. “I should have known he was going to be swinging there. That’s OK to throw a fastball when you know they’re swinging, but you’ve just got to locate your heater.”

The win was Wainwright’s 101st with the Cardinals, tying Matt Morris, Larry Jackson and Max Lanier for 10th place on the franchise list.

Matt Adams homered and Matt Carpenter drove in two runs for the Cardinals. Daniel Descalso also had two hits with an RBI and two runs scored.

Adams hit his first home run of the season, a leadoff shot in the second inning, and Jon Jay drove in two runs with a single.

“It was nice to get some runs, especially for Adam and let him do his thing,” Matheny said. “We took some good at-bats right from the top.”

The Cubs’ Nate Schierholtz, who had four hits Friday night, had two doubles and an RBI.

“We did some good things, especially against Wainwright, who is an excellent pitcher,” Chicago manager Rick Renteria said. “We just didn’t do enough.”

St. Louis did most of its damage against starter Carlos Villanueva (1-3), who allowed nine runs and 10 hits in three innings.

“I didn’t feel bad,” Villanueva said. “I felt like I had good stuff. But they’re a good team and they got me out of there quickly.”

After Adams’ homer tied the game at 1, the Cardinals sent eight more batters to the plate in the second. Yadier Molina and Allen Craig followed with singles, and they came home on RBI singles by Descalso and Wainwright. Carpenter then drove home Descalso with an infield single to shortstop that made it 4-1.

St. Louis sent 10 more hitters to the plate in the fourth inning and broke it open by scoring five times.

Descalso started the inning with a double and was safe at third on Wainwright’s sacrifice, with Wainwright reaching first on the fielder’s choice. Carpenter and Kolten Wong followed with RBI singles and Matt Holliday had an RBI groundout. Jay’s single off reliever Chris Rusin with two outs made it 9-2.

— Associated Press —