The Cardinals fell from first to third place in the National League Central with a 7-4 loss to the Cubs. Chicago torched St. Louis with a six-run rally in the third inning. Starting pitcher Garrett Stephenson was down 2-0 before giving up back-to-back home runs to Randall Simon and Aramis Ramirez. That was it for Stephenson. Sterling Hitchcock stopped the bleeding, allowing one run and five hits over the next five innings. Meanwhile Mark Prior cruised through the Cardinal lineup for eight innings and gave up just three hits and struck out six. Prior’s only hiccup was Albert Pujols 35th home run in the sixth inning, which snapped an 0-13 skid by Pujols. St. Louis rallied for three runs off Kyle Farnsworth and Mike Remlinger, but fell short.
