Willson Contreras drove in four runs to power the Chicago Cubs past the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 Friday.

The National League Central-leading Cubs (23-15) dropped the Cardinals (14-15) into a second-place tie with the Milwaukee Brewers (18-19) at 4 1/2 games back.

Cubs starting pitcher Yu Darvish (7-1) struck out 11 batters while holding the Cardinals to just one hit -- a Matt Carpenter homer -- in seven innings. He didn't issue a walk. Reliever Jeremy Jeffress pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his fifth save.

Darvish has allowed no more than one run in each of his past seven starts. He has held the Cardinals to two runs in 13 innings in two victories against them this season.

Cardinals starting pitcher Jack Flaherty (2-1) lasted just 2 2/3 innings. Contreras did all the damage against him, hitting a two-run single in the first inning and a RBI single in the third.

Contreras tacked on a solo homer in the sixth inning off of reliever Jake Woodford.

The Cubs took a 2-0 lead while forcing Flaherty to throw 43 pitches in the first inning.

Kris Bryant hit a one-out double, then Anthony Rizzo walked. Javier Baez struck out, but Jason Heyward walked to load the bases before Contreras lined a two-run single off a full-count pitch.

Flaherty hit Rizzo with a pitch with one out in the third inning. Heyward hit a two-out single before Contreras delivered again, this time with a RBI single into right to boost the Cubs' lead to 3-0.

Woodford relieved Flaherty and coaxed an inning-ending grounder from Victor Caratini to strand two runners.

Darvish retired the first 15 Cardinals he faced until Carpenter lined a homer over the right field wall leading off the sixth inning.

Contreras got that run back in the bottom of the inning with his blast over the left-center field wall.

Rowan Wick relieved Darvish for the eighth inning and worked around Yadier Molina's one-out single. Jeffress issued a one-out walk to Kolten Wong in the ninth but got Tommy Edman to hit into a game-ending double play.

--Field Level Media