Carpenter hit a two-run single in the eighth to widen the lead. That proved crucial even as it set the game for Greg Holland, the Cardinals’ closer-in-making, to pitch the eighth. Holland’s struggles to start the season continued as he walked two of the three batters he faced and allowed a home run to the third, Javy Baez. Baez’s two-run shot narrowed the gap and edged Bud Norris into the game for a five-out save.
The Cardinals and Cubs will play a five-game series at Wrigley coming out of the All-Star break because of Monday’s postponed game. Wind chill temps that night sneaked into the lower 20s, and after a weekend of awful weather the Cubs were once-frostbitten, twice-shy about playing in the cold.