CHICAGO • With noted troublemaker Jake Arrieta on the mound for the Cubs, the Cardinals had a chance to steal a game in the first half of Tuesday's doubleheader and watched it immolate in the late innings.
The Cubs scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning against a series of Cardinals relievers to pull away for a 7-4 victory at Wrigley Field.
Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run homer to spark the eighth and turn a game that was a one-run tussle into a near-runaway for the hosts. The Cardinals got a home run from Mark Reynolds in the top of the ninth to tidy up the score, but they would never close the gap on the Cubs that was there for the taking.