Zach McKinstry homered and drove in three runs, helping the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-1 on Wednesday night.

Nico Hoerner had three hits for Chicago, and Yan Gomes added two RBIs. Rowan Wick (4-6) got five outs for the win, leading a solid performance by the Cubs bullpen.

Lars Nootbaar homered for NL Central-leading St. Louis, and Corey Dickerson went 4 for 4. The Cardinals dropped to 17-5 in August.

Chicago and St. Louis split the first four games of their unusual five-game set. The series finale is Thursday afternoon.

Chicago was helped by a solid start from Luke Farrell, who pitched 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball in his first appearance for the Cubs since 2018. Farrell, the son of former Toronto and Boston manager John Farrell, was promoted from Triple-A Iowa before the game.

Wick, Mark Leiter Jr., Brandon Hughes and Kervin Castro then shut out St. Louis the rest of the way. The Cardinals finished with nine hits, six of them coming against Farrell.

McKinstry chased Miles Mikolas (10-10) with a two-run shot in the seventh. It was McKinstry's first homer since he was acquired in a July 30 trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Mikolas was charged with three earned runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings. He was 2-0 with a 1.69 ERA in his previous two starts.

Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado was ejected by umpire John Libka in the third for arguing a third-strike call. Arenado appeared ready to head to first before hopping in place to shout at Libka. Marmol thought the umpire was too quick to send the seven-time All Star off.

The Cardinals' Dakota Hudson (6-6, 4.33 ERA) faces fellow right-hander Marcus Stroman (3-5, 3.83 ERA) in the series finale.