Cardinals spot starter Joe Kelly and five relievers held the Chicago Cubs to only five hits as the Cardinals evened up their series at Wrigley Field with a 3-2 win on Friday. Pittsburgh’s 3-2 win over the Mets in 11 innings leaves the Cardinals one game up in the division standings.
Carlos Beltran’s RBI triple and Matt Carpenter’s single to score Beltran gave the Cardinals an early 2-0 lead in the first. The Cubs made it a 2-1 game in the third on Alfonso Soriano’s RBI single, but the staff did a good job of staying out of trouble, holding Cub hitters to 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
Carpenter was the player of the game. He went 2 for 4, scoring the first run and adding another run, what proved to be the difference maker, when he doubled home a run in the seventh. He also made a couple of nice defensive plays.
Prior to Carpenter’s RBI, the Cubs threatened in the sixth. Randy Choate replaced Kelly to face back-to-back left-handed hitters and got into trouble, walking Nate Schierholtz to put runners on first and second. However, he got Brian Bogusevic to ground into an inning-ending double play and preserve the lead. Starlin Castro homered in the eighth off Kevin Siegrist to make it a 3-2 game. Edward Mujica pitched the ninth for his 26th save.