>>Cardinals Rally Past Phillies
The Cardinals scored twice in the bottom of the ninth and Matt Holliday's RBI single with two outs was the difference in a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Cardinals had lost five of their last six while the Phillies had won seven of eight and 10 of 12.
St. Louis rallied in the ninth against Phillies closer Jeanmar Gomez, who had converted his first nine save opportunities this season.
Pinch-hitter Kolten Wong led off with a walk. With one out, pinch-hitter Matt Adams doubled off the wall in right-center, a play that was reviewed to see whether it went over the fence.
After an intentional walk to load the bases with one out, Stephen Piscotty delivered an RBI infield single to tie the game and pitcher Carlos Martinez, pinch running for Adams, was out after rounding third.
Holliday then smacked a single through the left side of the infield to drive home the winning run.
Ryan Howard's seventh home run of the season, a three-run shot to center field in the fourth inning, gave the Phillies a 3-0 lead. That was the St. Louis native's 23rd homer in 67 career games against the Cardinals.
Odubel Herrera added a solo home run in the fifth, his third, to make it 4-0.
Cardinals starter Mike Leake, the team's big free agent addition of the offseason, entered the game with an 0-3 record and 5.83 ERA. He allowed four runs and four hits in five innings, his ERA rising to 6.03 after six starts.
Jerad Eickhoff (1-3, 4.15) has never faced the Cardinals. He is coming off a no-decision against Cleveland after allowing three runs and six hits over six innings.
Jaime Garcia (1-2, 3.73) will make his eighth start and 10th career appearance against Philadelphia. He is 2-4 with a 3.27 ERA in his previous nine appearances against the Phillies.
>>Zobrist, Rizzo Homers Pace Cubs to Series Sweep of Pittsburgh
Ben Zobrist hit a three-run home run, Anthony Rizzo also connected and Jon Lester worked out of a pair of jams to lead the Chicago Cubs over the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-2 Wednesday for a three-game sweep.
Zobrist's third-inning homer put Chicago ahead after center fielder Andrew McCutchen dropped Rizzo's two-out liner for an error.
With its seventh win in eight games, Chicago improved to a major league-best 20-6. The Cubs has won seven straight road games and completed their first sweep in Pittsburgh since Sept. 7-9, 2012. They lead second-place Pittsburgh by six games in the NL Central.
Lester (3-1) scattered eight hits in 5 2/3 scoreless innings, struck out five and walked two. The left-hander has allowed one run or none in five of six starts this season.
The Cubs open a four-game series Thursday night against Washington with RHP Kyle Hendricks (1-2, 3.52 ERA) pitching on eight days' rest against RHP Joe Ross (3-0, 0.79).
>>Ortiz's 509th HR Sends Red Sox Past White Sox
David Ortiz hit his 509th home run to put the Boston Red Sox ahead to stay in a 5-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night.
Ortiz's two-run shot to right field off Carlos Rodon in the fifth inning tied him with Gary Sheffield for 25th all-time. It was his sixth homer of the season and 451st with Boston, one off Carl Yastrzemski's club mark.
Ortiz added an RBI single in the seventh against Zach Duke, and embattled Clay Buchholz (1-3) was sharp over seven innings in Boston's fourth win in five games.
Jose Abreu's two-run homer in the first was the only blemish for Buchholz, who allowed three hits and struck out six.
Erik Johnson arrives from Triple-A Charlotte and gets the first chance Thursday night to fill the hole in Chicago's rotation following Danks' departure. LHP Henry Owens (0-0, 4.82 ERA) makes his third start for Boston to close the three-game series.
