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Cardinals Hold Off Cubs

Paul Goldschmidt homered for the seventh time in eight games, a go-ahead drive off Darvish in the sixth inning that lifted the St. Louis Cardinals over the Chicago Cubs 2-1 Tuesday night and back into sole possession of the NL Central lead.

 

Goldschmidt was 1 for 14 against Darvish before hitting a single and the winning home run.

A six-time All-Star, Goldschmidt drove a fastball from Darvish (3-5) to center for his 25th home run this season.

 

Goldschmidt is hitting .364 (12 for 33) in his last eight games with 14 RBIs. He has 11 home runs in July, which ties his career high for a month.

 

St. Louis (57-49) dropped out of first place on May 7 but has held at least a share of the lead since Thursday and moved one game ahead of the Cubs (56-50).

 

Giovanny Gallegos (3-1) retired Kyle Schwarber on a bases-loaded flyout that ended the sixth after he relieved Adam Wainwright, who allowed one run and five hits in 5 2/3 innings.

 

After a pair of two-out walks in the eighth by Andrew Miller, Carlos Martinez struck out Ian Happ.

 

Martinez then struck out his first two batters in a perfect ninth for his 11th save in 13 chances.

 

Martinez was perfect in eight opportunities in July, and this was his third save of four or more outs.

Darvish gave up two runs and six hits in six innings with nine strikeouts, no walks, a hit batter and two wild pitches. Darvish has 10 wild pitches this season.

 

Chicago has lost 21 of its last 29 road games and is 0-8-1 in nine road series since May 27.

 

Javier Baez hit an RBI single in the fourth that scored Jason Heyward, who singled and advanced to second on Kris Bryant's fly to deep center. Heyward had his seventh three-hit game this season.

 

The Cubs stranded 10 baserunners.

 

St. Louis tied the score in the bottom half when Jose Martinez and Goldschmidt singled, and Darvish threw a pair of wild pitches.

 

For the first time since the Cardinals and Cubs first met in 1892, the home team has won the first 10 games of the season series.

 

Kyle Hendricks (7-8) starts Wednesday against St. Louis RHP Miles Mikolas (7-10).

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