Cardinals wait out hours-long rain delay, top Cubs, 7-4

ST. LOUIS — Dexter Fowler and Harrison Bader hit back-to-back homers in the eighth inning, and the St. Louis Cardinals outlasted the Chicago Cubs in a 7-4 victory that ended early Sunday after a rain delay of over three hours.

Paul Goldschmidt also hit a home run for the Cardinals (29-28), who have won three straight for the first time since a five-game streak in late April. It was also St. Louis’ first series win since April 30 against Washington.

The game was delayed 3 hours and 37 minutes after the fourth inning.

Reliever John Gant (4-0) picked up the win with a scoreless sixth. Carlos Martinez earned the save with a scoreless ninth.

Anthony Rizzo and Jason Heyward homered for the Cubs, who have lost five of their last six games.

The Cardinals had closed out a rough month of May with two straight wins. They avoided the worst winning percentage for May in the franchise’s long history by going 9-18 (.333) and had lost eight straight series, a streak that began by being swept by the Cubs in early May.

Rizzo’s first-inning solo home run was his team-leading 16th and extended his hitting streak to 13 games.

Goldschmidt tied it in the bottom of the opening inning with his 12th homer.

Heyward’s ninth homer, a solo shot, put the Cubs up 2-1 in the second, but Marcell Ozuna‘s RBI single in the third — his 500th career RBI — tied it again.

Cubs starter Jose Quintana allowed two runs and four hits in four innings. He struck out six and walked one before giving way to Tyler Chatwood (3-1) after the rain delay.

Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty allowed two runs and five hits and struck out eight in five innings. He was replaced by Gant.

RBI doubles by Matt Wieters, Fowler and Kolten Wong against Chatwood gave the Cardinals a 5-2 lead in the sixth.

The Cubs answered with two runs in the seventh to make it a one-run game. David Bote had an RBI double to right field and scored on a fielder’s choice by Kris Bryant.

STROP SOON?

Cubs reliever Pedro Strop is getting closer to returning from his hamstring injury, manager Joe Maddon said. Strop is expected to make one more rehab appearance for Triple-A Iowa on Sunday.

“With everything, good health, and that he comes out of it feeling well, I would imagine that he would be back with us right after that,” Maddon said. “We’re just trying to be true to him and biology, how long it’s supposed to take to come back from that injury. Even though he’s felt really well, we just thought it wasn’t wise to push it right now. So let him go do all this, do it right, and then we’ll make our determination.”

TRAINING ROOM

Cubs: SS Javier Baez was scratched with a right heel contusion, first sustained on May 19, and is considered day to day. “For him to say something, it had to be pretty sore,” Maddon said before the game.

Cardinals: C Yadier Molina (right thumb tendon strain) got a second opinion on his injury on Friday which confirmed no surgery would be needed. “I can throw the ball, I just can’t grip,” Molina said.

UP NEXT

Cubs: LHP Cole Hamels (4-1, 4.02) took his first loss of the season in his last start, Monday at Houston, when he allowed six runs on seven hits in four innings. He’s 4-5 with a 2.67 ERA in 14 career starts against the Cardinals.

Cardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (4-5, 4.94) struck out a season-high 10 batters in his last start, a 4-3 loss at Philadelphia last Tuesday. He is 15-11 with a 4.16 ERA in 46 career games (37 starts) against the Cubs.