Jake Westbrook picks up his first win in a Cardinal uniform as the Redbirds beat the Cubs last night at Busch 6-3.  The Redbirds have now won four in a row, and continue to lead the National League Central by one game over the Cincinnati Reds.

Westbrook would go six innings, giving up two runs on six hits while striking out three.  Since being acquired from Cleveland in a deal that sent Ryan Ludwick to San Diego, Westbrook has given up just five runs over 19 innings.  He has 19 strikeouts over that time and an ERA of 2.39.

The offense was led last night by Albert Pujols and Jadier Molina.  Pujols would get the scoring started as he blasted his 29th home run of the season in the bottom of the first.  Molina would drive in a run in the third and again in the seventh, both coming on sacrifice flys.  Matt Holliday and Jon Jay would also add RBI’s.

St. Louis was playing without manager Tony LaRussa.  He began serving the first game of a two game suspension he was given by Major League Baseball for the scrum earlier in the week with Cincinnati.  He will serve the other game of the suspension today.

The win keeps the Redbirds one game ahead of the Reds in the National League Central.  The Reds were victorious in their game last night against the Florida Marlins.

Chris Carpenter will go for his 14th win of the season this afternoon in game two of the series.  The Cubs will counter with Carlos Zambrano. 

Game time is 3:10.