The Cardinals went into their weekend series with Cubs winless in Chicago this season. That included games against the Cubbies and the White Sox. St. Louis ended that futility, taking two-out-of-three against the Cubs, and winning the series finale 5-3.
St. Louis wasted little time announcing their presence. Chris Duncan hit a solo home run and Juan Encarnacion blasted a three-run shot to give the Birds a 4-0 lead in the first inning. The Cardinals didn’t score again until the ninth inning but it wouldn’t matter.
Chris Carpenter made sure the first inning scoring output was enough, tossing eight innings of two-run ball to get his 12th win of the year. Jason Isringhausen gave up a home run in the ninth but held on for the save.
The Cubs cut the lead in half with two runs in the sixth. Juan Pierre tripled to lead off the inning before Matt Murton drove him in with a single. Murton advanced to third base on an Aramis Ramirez double and later scored on Jacque Jones’ RBI groundout.