>>Lackey Leads St. Louis To Desert Victory

John Lackey pitched seven strong innings and St. Louis' defense was stellar behind him, leading the Cardinals to a 3-1 victory over the Diamondbacks.

Lackey (11-8) bounced back from a shaky start, giving up a solo homer to Paul Goldschmidt in the first inning and little else.

His defense played a big role in it, turning three doubles plays to push their total to eight in the series.

Second baseman Kolten Wong had two stellar stops, including one to start an inning-ending double play in the fifth. Centerfielder Tommy Pham also robbed Aaron Hill of extra bases in the fourth inning by diving to snare a line drive in the gap.

Trevor Rosenthal worked around a walk in the ninth for his 40th save for the Cardinals, who moved to 36 games over .500 (81-45), their highest since finishing the 2005 season plus-38. St. Louis has won seven straight and 12 of 13 against Arizona.

St. Louis quickly took advantage after starter Patrick Corbin left, scoring twice off David Hernandez (1-4) in the seventh. Wong had an RBI double and Matt Carpenter a run-scoring single in the inning, enough to send the Diamondbacks to their third straight loss since a four-game winning streak.

Corbin was sharp against the Cardinals, giving up two hits - one by Lackey - until Reynolds lined a solo homer over the wall in left in the fifth inning. The homer, which tied the game 1-all, was Reynolds' 11th of the season.

>>Peavy Leads Giants Over Cubs

Buster Posey followed Brandon Belt's leadoff triple in the sixth inning with a go-ahead double, Jake Peavy won for the second time in six starts, and the Giants beat the Cubs 4-2 on Wednesday night to stop Chicago's six-game winning streak.

Kelby Tomlinson added an RBI double of his own in the sixth against Kyle Hendricks as the Giants ended a three-game slide with their second victory in seven games. Nori Aoki homered for San Francisco.

With their first win in six meetings this month against the Cubs, San Francisco avoided its first six-game skid in the series since 1993-94.

Peavy (4-6) allowed five hits and two runs, struck out three and walked three in 6 1-3 innings to beat the Cubs for the second time in his last six outings against them. He took a 2-0 loss at Wrigley Field on Aug. 9.

Peavy's bullpen backed him, too, with lefty Javier Lopez contributing his 19th straight scoreless appearance. Lopez and Hunter Strickland each had a strikeout to get through the seventh with runners on second and third.

Sergio Romo pitched the eighth and Santiago Casilla finished with a perfect ninth and two strikeouts for his 31st save.

After Chicago grabbed a two-run lead in the first, Aoki homered to start the bottom half for his fourth career leadoff homer and second this year. He also hit one May 3 against the Angels.

Kyle Schwarber began the game with a unique, 20-foot double on an infield popup. Peavy and catcher Posey both went for it and Posey got out of the way at the last second, knocking the pitcher over in the process.

Addison Russell popped up in the third and first baseman Belt and third baseman Matt Duffy met on the mound chasing it down, with Belt making the catch.

Hendricks (6-6) saw his winless stretch reach three starts for the Cubs, who lost for only the sixth time in their last 21 road games dating to June 30.

>>Red Sox Blank White Sox

Rick Porcello pitched seven sharp innings in his first start since he was sidelined by a triceps injury, leading the Boston Red Sox to a 3-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday.

Porcello and Chris Sale had nearly identical lines, but Travis Shaw hit a two-run homer off Nate Jones (1-1) with two outs in the eighth. Robbie Ross Jr. then got three outs for the Red Sox before Junichi Tazawa finished the six-hitter for his third save in nine chances.

Porcello (6-11) allowed five hits, struck out five and walked none in one of his best starts in a disappointing debut season with Boston.

Sale also pitched seven innings of five-hit ball. The lanky left-hander struck out seven, running his major league-leading total to a career-best 229 in just 171 1-3 innings.

Josh Rutledge contributed two hits, a ninth-inning sacrifice fly and an outstanding play at second base.

Porcello retired his first 10 batters before Melky Cabrera doubled with two outs in the fourth. The White Sox had runners on the corners with one out in the fifth, but Porcello wiggled out of the jam with some help from Rutledge.

After Tyler Flowers flied to shallow right for the second out, rookie Tyler Saladino hit a slow bouncer to second. Rutledge rushed in and made a terrific diving throw that just beat the athletic Saladino to first.

The White Sox threatened again in the sixth, putting two runners on with one out. Porcello then struck out Avisail Garcia and got Adam LaRoche to fly out to center.

The Red Sox had their best scoring opportunity against Sale in the third, loading the bases with two outs. But Sale fanned Hanley Ramirez for his 226th strikeout, matching his previous single-season high set in 2013.