Yasiel Puig hit three home runs to power the Dodgers past the Cardinals 17-4 in St. Louis. Puig finished with a career-high seven RBI and has five homers in the past two games. Manny Machado and Cody Bellinger also went deep and Rich Hill earned the win for L.A., which has four straight games. The Dodgers are a half-game ahead of Colorado for first in the NL West. St. Louis starter John Gant was chased in the fifth inning and surrendered six runs in the loss. Patrick Wisdom hit a grand slam for the Cards, who will look to avoid the four-game sweep in Sunday’s series finale.
In the series finale, the Dodgers will send right-hander Ross Stripling (8-3, 2.61 ERA) to the mound. The Cardinals will counter with right-hander Adam Wainwright (1-3, 4.70).
The Cardinals now trail the 2nd wild-card spot by a game.
Jon Lester tossed seven innings of two-hit ball to lead the Cubs past the Reds 1-0 at Wrigley Field. Lester struck out nine on the way to his 16th win and Steve Cishek picked up the save. Willson Contreras had two of the four Chicago hits, including the go-ahead RBI single in the sixth. The Cubs have won three straight and will look for the series sweep in Sunday’s finale. Cincy starter Cody Reed struck out 10 over five scoreless frames. Sal Romano gave up the go-ahead run in relief of Reed to take the loss and Jose Peraza had two of the Reds four hits in defeat.
Zach Davies failed to hold an early lead and gave up a go-ahead double to Francisco Cervelli in the fourth inning that lifted the Pittsburgh Pirates over the Milwaukee Brewers 3-1 on Saturday night.