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AP
St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong
CHICAGO » Former University of Hawaii All-American Kolten Wong scored his first Major League run as St. Louis beat the Chicago Cubs 6-1 Sunday.
Wong’s deep fly ticked off Junior Lake’s glove for an error, putting Wong on second and Jon Jay on third. Following an intentional walk to Daniel Descalso and fly out by Wainwright, Matt Carpenter’s hit up the middle drove in Jay and Wong.
Carpenter’s single with two outs and the bases loaded drove in two runs as the Cardinals jumped ahead 3-0 in the second.
Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright struck out 11 and allowed one run through seven innings, and Jay drove in four runs with a homer and double to lead St. Louis to the win.
Carpenter singled in two runs in the third to help back Wainwright (14-7), who was in command and allowed just five hits and one walk after going 0-2 in his previous four starts.
Junior Lake drove in the Cubs’ only run with a double in the sixth.
Wainwright hadn’t won since July 21 at home against San Diego and had allowed 14 runs in 28 innings during the span.
Sunday, he faced only one batter over the minimum through the first five innings and only 26 through seven innings.
Kevin Siegrist and Trevor Rosenthal combined to pitch scoreless eighth and ninth.
Chicago starter Edwin Jackson (7-13) allowed three runs, but only one earned, through six innings. He walked four and struck out three.
The Cubs cut it to 3-1 in the sixth. David Dejesus, who had walked with two outs, scored on Lake’s double to the gap.
Jay’s three-run homer in the seventh off James Russell, the second of four Chicago relievers, made it 6-1.
DeJesus was thrown out trying to score from third on Anthony Rizzo’s fly ball in the eighth.
NOTES: Wainwright had a season-high 12 strikeouts on April 13 against Milwaukee. . The 23-year-old Castro, one of the Cubs’ most touted young players, has struggled much of this season. He entered Sunday hitting .244 with seven homers and 32 RBIs, and was 0 for 16 in his past five games. But Sveum was willing to give him another chance. "I don’t think this kid can get better by not playing today and understanding the adversity that we all go through in a game," Sveum said before the same. … Descalso, a left-handed batter, started at shortstop for St. Louis on Sunday against Jackson, a right-hander. He replaced right-handed hitting, Pete Kozma who played Saturday. Manager Mike Matheny stopped short of saying the two would platoon the rest of the season. "I am still comfortable with (Kozma’s defense), but I think we’ve all been becoming more comfortable with the innings (Descalso) has been playing as well, and how he’s swinging the bat at times. I think you’re going to see both of them." Kozma, was hitting .223 entering the game and Descalso was at .254. … Wong, one of the Cardinals’ top prospects, started at second on Sunday and appeared in each game of the series after making his major league debut on Friday.
