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Cubs down Cardinals 5-2

Kyle Hendricks retired his last 17 batters, and the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-2 on Sunday night to salvage the finale of their weekend series.
 
Ben Zobrist and Anthony Rizzo homered as NL leading-Chicago moved 1 1/2 games ahead of second-place Milwaukee in the NL Central. Zobrist finished with four hits.
 
Hendricks (7-9) settled into a nice little groove after Marcell Ozuna's two-run homer in the first. The right-hander allowed four hits, struck out eight and walked none in seven innings.
 
It was Hendricks' second win in his last eight starts. He has yielded 59 runs this season - 21 in the opening inning.
 
St. Louis had won three of four. John Gant (3-4) was charged with three runs, two earned, and four hits in 4 1/3 innings.
 
Zobrist, who also had four hits in a 7-2 win over St. Louis on July 21, drove Gant's seventh pitch of the game over the wall in right-center for his seventh homer. Rizzo tied it at 2 with his 15th homer in the third.
 
Chicago then went ahead to stay with three runs in the fifth, taking advantage of a key error by second baseman Yairo Munoz.
 
Zobrist's two-out double put runners on second and third before Munoz bobbled Jason Heyward's grounder, allowing Rizzo to score. Javier Baez followed with a two-run double.
 
Pedro Strop pitched a perfect ninth for his fifth save in eight chances.
 
Ozuna's first-inning homer was his second in as many games. He hit a grand slam in Saturday's 6-2 win.
 
The Cardinals have split eight games with the Cubs since the All-Star break.  The start of the game was delayed 1 hour, 16 minutes due to rain.
 
RHP Carlos Martinez (6-6, 3.39 ERA) will take on LHP Tyler Anderson (6-3, 3.57 ERA) in the first of a four-game series at home against Colorado today, as the Cubs will have the night off.

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