John Lackey beat the opposition with both his arm and his bat, pitching the St. Louis Cardinals (21-7) to a 5-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs (14-13). Lackey also helped the offensive effort with an RBI double on a play in which two runs scored.
With the win, the Cardinals took three of four from the Cubs to push their heated rivals back to 6.5 games behind in the N.L. Central. St. Louis is 9-1 in its last 10 games while Chicago is 4-6 in that same span.
With his team already up 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth, Lackey laced a two-out double down the right-field line to score Jason Heyward, who had singled and stolen second. Cubs right fielder Jorge Soler had trouble picking up the ball, so speed demon Peter Bourjos, whom Jake Arrieta intentionally walked to get to Lackey, came around to score all the way from first base.
Lackey got credit for one RBI since Bourjos scored on Soler's error.
St. Louis took an early 2-0 lead in the second on Heyward's RBI single that scored Mark Reynolds and Bourjos's RBI triple that brought in Heyward. The Cardinals added a fifth run in the sixth on a wild pitch from reliever Justin Grimm with Lackey batting.
The Cubs got their lone run in the top of the seventh when Starlin Castro singled home Soler, who had doubled with one out. They threatened in the ninth but could not push across any more.
Lackey (W: 2-1, 3.20 ERA) pitched 7 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run on five hits. He walked one and struck out 10. Trevor Rosenthal (S: 10) took over for Seth Maness in the ninth with two on and nobody out. He got a ground out and two strikeouts in succession to end the game.
Arrieta (L: 3-3, 3.41) had a rough time Thursday. In 5 1/3 innings, he allowed all five Cardinals runs (four earned) on nine hits. He walked one and struck out seven. The bullpen, which blew leads late in each the first two games of the series, held the Cardinals to one hit in 2 2/3 innings, but the Cubs' offense could not bail out Arrieta.
On Friday, the Cardinals visit the Pittsburgh Pirates for the weekend while Chicago heads north and visits the last-place Milwaukee Brewers.