Coverage of today's Cards and Braves game can be heard on Newstalk 97.3 WTIM beginning at 6:40pm.

St. Louis, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Michael Wacha earned his first win in more 
than  a month  and the St. Louis  Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-3, in the 
rubber match of a three-game set on Thursday. 

Wacha  (3-3),  who also hit a  two-run single, struck out five and surrendered 
two  runs  on seven  hits over seven  innings for the  Cardinals, who have won 
three of their last four games. 

"I  was  able to  pound the  strike zone  down in  the zone  and it was pretty 
effective," Wacha said. 

The  fireballer had been 0-3 in his last five starts since beating the Cubs on 
April 13. 

Trevor  Rosenthal tossed 1  2/3 scoreless innings to earn his 11th save of the 
season. 

Starlin Castro smacked a two-run homer among his three hits for Chicago, which 
has dropped five of its last six games. Jason Hammel (4-2) struck out six, but 
surrendered five runs on five hits and two walks over 5 1/3 frames in defeat. 

The Cardinals opened the scoring with a four-run second and never looked back. 

Yadier Molina hit a one-out double before Allen Craig and Peter Bourjos worked 
walks  to load  the  bases.  Mark Ellis'  groundout  scored  Molina and  Wacha 
followed with his two-run single back up the middle. Matt Carpenter then laced 
a double into right-center to bring home Wacha. 

Chicago  got a pair of runs back in the fourth when Anthony Rizzo led off with 
a  bunt  single against  the shift  and Castro followed  with his two-run shot 
down the left-field line to cut the gap to 4-2. 

"Rizzo took advantage of the shift," Chicago manager Rick Renteria said. "That 
led to our first two runs when Starlin drove the ball out of the ballpark. 

Matt  Holliday began  the sixth with a two-bagger into right-center and scored 
on Molina's base hit into left for a 5-2 Cardinals spread. 

Junior Lake's sacrifice fly in the eighth cut Chicago's deficit to 5-3. 

                                   Game Notes 

Wacha  threw 77 of  his 104 pitches for strikes ... The Cardinals were 2-for-6 
with  runners in  scoring position,  while Chicago  finished 0-for-5  and left 
eight men on base.