Cubs outlast Cardinals to post seven straight games victory

Willson Contreras played a key role in three rallies, and Kris Bryant added a grand slam late as the Chicago Cubs routed the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 13-5 on Sunday night. Chicago has won seven straight games. St. Louis suffered its fourth consecutive loss.

Contreras went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, two runs scored and one walk. Albert Almora Jr. slugged a pair of doubles, and Anthony Rizzo and David Bote added two RBIs each to help power Chicago's offence. Jose Quintana (4-1) allowed just two runs in six innings to earn the victory.

Adam Wainwright (3-3) took the loss, allowing five hits, two walks and five runs in five innings. Chicago opened the scoring in the second inning on Contreras' solo homer to right-centre on a 1-1 sinker that was right down the middle. Contreras hit it 419 feet for his ninth homer of the season.

Contreras started another rally in the fifth, drawing a leadoff walk. Jason Heyward followed with an RBI triple to right centre. The ball got just under the glove of diving centre fielder Dexter Fowler, and right fielder Jose Martinez backed up the play and bobbled it initially. Bote then hit a sacrifice fly to give Chicago a 3-0 lead. St. Louis cut its deficit to 3-2 in the sixth. Paul DeJong and Marcell Ozuna singled to set up the rally. With two outs, Yadier Molina -- who was sitting on a breaking ball -- got his pitch and drilled it for a two-run double high off the ivy in left-centre.

But Chicago knocked Wainwright out of the game with three straight hits to start the bottom of the sixth. Ben Zobrist and Bryant singled, and Rizzo pulled a two-run double to the gap in right-centre. Contreras capped the rally with a soft RBI single to right-centre, giving the Cubs a 6-2 lead. Chicago extended its lead to 7-2 in the seventh. Almora launched a leadoff double, took third on Kyle Schwarber's flyout and scored on Zobrist's single past a drawn-in infield.

The Cubs capped their scoring with six runs in the eighth, including Bryant's slam, as he stroked a 2-2 fastball to centre off Dominic Leone. DeJong clubbed a two-run homer in the ninth to cap his 3-for-4 night. Ozuna added a solo blast, but it wasn't enough as Chicago completed the three-game sweep.

(With inputs from agencies.)