ST. LOUIS (AP) — Matthew Liberatore took a shutout into the sixth inning and Masyn Winn hit a two-run single as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 5-1 on Sunday night.
JJ Wetherholt and Iván Herrera each had two hits and scored twice for the Cardinals, who took two of three from their NL Central rivals after entering the series on a four-game losing streak.
Alex Bregman homered for the Cubs, who are 3-2 since a 10-game skid.
Liberatore (3-3)
allowed three hits and one walk in 5 1/3 scoreless innings after giving up at least three runs in each of his previous three starts. He struck out four.
Hunter Dobbins relieved Liberatore hours after being recalled from Triple-A Memphis and yielded one run on four hits with four strikeouts over 3 2/3 innings for his first professional save.
Bregman hit his fifth homer this season to left field off his former teammate in the sixth to spoil the shutout and extend his hitting streak to 11 games.
Alec Burleson blooped an RBI single off Ethan Roberts that landed just in front of left fielder Ian Happ to make it 3-0 in the third. Winn added a two-run single that extended the margin to 5-0.
Jordan Walker had an RBI single for the Cardinals in a two-run first.
Jordan Wicks (0-2) was charged with three runs and four hits in two-plus innings. He was removed after Wetherholt reached on an infield single leading off the third.
St. Louis opened a 2-0 lead after Wetherholt, Herrera and Walker all singled to start the bottom of the first.
Cubs: RHP Jameson Taillon (2-4, 5.37 ERA) will face Athletics LHP Gage Jump (0-1, 7.20) to open a six-game homestand Tuesday night.
Cardinals: RHP Michael McGreevy (3-4, 2.98 ERA) faces Rangers RHP Jacob deGrom (3-4, 3.77) to begin a three-game series Monday night.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb
