>>Cardinals Edege White Sox
Carlos Martinez hit his first major league home run and also threw 7 1-3 effective innings to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 3-2 win over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday.
Dexter Fowler added a two-run homer for the Cardinals, who won their second game in a row.
Chicago has dropped four straight and 13 of 17. The White Sox fell to a season-low 12 games under .500.
Martinez (3-1) hit a 407-foot shot off Lucas Giolito (1-4) with two outs in the sixth to break a scoreless tie. Martinez allowed one run on five hits and left with a 3-0 lead. He struck out five and walked two. The Cardinals have won each of his six starts.
Giolito surrendered three runs on four hits over 6 1-3 innings. He struck out seven and walked two. He had walked 21 batters and struck out 11 over his first five starts.
Bud Norris picked up his sixth save in as many opportunities by getting four outs.
Martinez fanned three consecutive batters after giving up a leadoff double to Jose Abreu in the fourth. He also induced Daniel Palka to hit into an inning-ending double play in the seventh.
Fowler hit his 100th career home run in the seventh to push the lead to 3-0.
Yolmer Sanchez had an RBI single in the eighth. Abreu followed with a sacrifice fly to trim the deficit to 3-2.
Yadier Molina had two hits for the Cardinals.
Miles Mikolas (3-0, 3.27) takes on LHP Jose Quintana (3-1, 5.74) in the first of a three-game series against the Cubs on Friday. Mikolas leads the majors with a walk-strikeout ratio of 1-13.5.
>>Arenado, Rockies Power Past Cubs
Nolan Arenado hit two of Colorado's four homers and drove in five runs to back Tyler Anderson and lift the Rockies to an 11-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday.
Arenado hit a long two-run homer to center off Yu Darvish in the first inning. He connected again in the eighth, hitting a three-run drive to left off Luke Farrell.
Trevor Story led off the fifth with a long homer to left, and Chris Iannetta chased Darvish one out later with a solo drive that made it 6-1.
Anderson (2-0) pitched a season-high seven innings after leaving his previous start because he was feeling light-headed. The left-hander struck out a season-high nine while permitting two runs and three hits.
Anthony Rizzo homered in the fourth and Kris Bryant went deep in the sixth, but that was it for Chicago. The Cubs finished with four hits in their eighth consecutive game with three or fewer runs.
Rizzo's drive was his second in as many days. He connected from the fourth spot in the order after hitting his fourth career leadoff homer on Tuesday. But the Cubs dropped their second straight following a season-high five-game win streak.
Darvish (0-3) got tagged for six runs - five earned - and seven hits over 4 1/3 innings by a team that began the day with the majors' lowest batting average. Coming off a dominant start against Milwaukee, the right-hander exited to boos this time around.
The latest shaky outing left his ERA through six starts at 6.00 - not what the Cubs envisioned when they signed him to a $126 million contract in the offseason.
Chicago opens a three-game series Friday at St. Louis, with LHP Jose Quintana (3-1, 5.74 ERA) pitching for the Cubs and RHP Miles Mikolas (3-0, 3.27 ERA) starting for the Cardinals.
