CHICAGO (AP) — Cody Bellinger hit a two-run homer, and the Chicago Cubs stopped St. Louis' six-game win streak with a 4-3 victory over the Cardinals on Friday.
Bellinger capped Chicago's four-run third inning with a 400-foot drive to right against Jack Flaherty. He finished with three hits in another strong performance at the plate.
Bellinger, a possible trade target ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline, is 10 for 20 in his last five games. Since returning from a bruised knee on June 15, the 2019 NL MVP is batting .381 (40 for 105) with six homers.
All-Star left-hander Justin Steele (10-3) struck out a season-high nine in 6 1/3 innings for Chicago, bouncing back from a lackluster performance against Boston. He allowed two runs and six hits.
Miles Mastrobouni lined his first big league homer for the Cubs, and Mike Tauchman added an RBI double.
Flaherty (7-6) was charged with four runs and eight hits and six innings. The right-hander went 4-0 with a 3.24 ERA in his previous four starts.
St. Louis trailed 4-1 before Nolan Arenado hit a two-run single against Julian Merryweather with two out in the seventh.
The Cardinals loaded the bases with one out in the eighth on walks to Tyler O’Neill, Jordan Walker and Paul DeJong. Pinch-hitter Alec Burleson then had a 3-0 count against Mark Leiter Jr. before he looked at two called strikes that appeared to be outside.
Burleson bounced into an inning-ending double play, and then was ejected for yelling at plate umpire Ron Kulpa.
Adbert Alzolay worked the ninth for his eighth save. Arenado reached on second baseman Christopher Morel’s two-out error and Willson Contreras was hit by a pitch before O’Neill flied out to center.
Right fielder Seiya Suzuki also made a nice running catch on Paul Goldschmidt’s drive for the second out in the ninth.
St. Louis grabbed a 1-0 lead on Andrew Knizner’s run-scoring grounder in the second. But Steele limited the damage when he retired Dylan Carlson on a weak comebacker for the final out.
Mastrobuoni tied it at 1 with a leadoff drive to right-center in the third. It was his first homer in his 45th big league game.
