CHICAGO -- Banished from the field and stuck in a tunnel off the dugout , St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny had to rely on the crowd to alert him to the biggest play of the night.

Shortstop Jhonny Peralta's two-run homer with two outs in the ninth helped lift the Cardinals to a 6-5 come-from-behind victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday.

"I could only hear when Jhonny got his chance," said Matheny, who was ejected in the sixth inning for arguing balls and strikes. "That was pretty exciting. ... I can't sit up here and watch it. I was listening to the crowd and I could tell what's going on."

The victory salvaged a 2-2 series split for St. Louis (55-30) while Chicago (46-38) saw a two-game winning streak snapped.

Peralta lined a 1-2 pitch off reliever Pedro Strop into the left field basket for his 12th homer of the year and scored pinch runner Pete Kozma.

Kozma took over on the base paths after second baseman Matt Carpenter worked Strop for a two-out walk.

"I should have just attacked (Carpenter)," said Strop. "I had an opportunity to get it done and I couldn't."

Strop missed the chance for his third save and instead fell to 1-4 with the loss as he walked one and gave up a homer in his lone inning of work.

"It's baseball, it happens," said Cubs manager Joe Maddon. "We've done it to other teams, they did it to us tonight. You fail to execute a pitch and it's a homer. ... It really comes down to the previous at-bat and not walking Carpenter and we're in a good position to put the game away."

Cardinals right-handed reliever Miguel Socolovich (3-1) worked 2/3 of the eighth inning and picked up the win. Right-handed reliever Trevor Rosenthal allowed one hit but no runs in the ninth for his 25th save.

Cardinal right-handed starter Michael Wacha worked through six innings and ended with no decision. He's still the Cardinals' winningest pitcher at 10-3.

The Cubs entered the ninth with a 5-4 lead thanks to catcher Miguel Montero's bases-clearing double in the sixth.

Montero erased a 4-2 deficit with one swing when he lined a 3-2 pitch to deep right center to clear the bases.

Wacha faced bases loaded with one out, struck out shortstop Starlin Castro for a second out and quickly got an 0-2 count on Montero.

But the Cubs catcher took three straight balls and fouled off another pitch before his two-base hit scored center fielder Dexter Fowler, first baseman Anthony Rizzo and right fielder Jorge Soler.

"It was a terrific start by Michael," Matheny said. "Michael was very good and a couple of things kind of built up there. But he did a nice job of almost getting himself out of it."

Following the scores, Matheny and catcher Yadier Molina were ejected for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Pat Hoberg.

Wacha departed after the sixth. He gave up five runs on seven hits, walked one and struck out six in six innings of work. He also was 2-for-3 at the plate.

Cubs starter Jason Hammel departed after one inning with left hamstring tightness, replaced by left-hander Clayton Richard, making his this appearance of the season.

“It was sharp pain in the back of the knee. … it was enough to shut me down,” said Hammel. “MRI tomorrow and we’ll figure out exactly what it is.

Hammel faced three batters and had one strikeout in his lone inning.

The Cardinals scored two runs in the second as first baseman Dan Johnson had an RBI single in his St. Louis debut to drive in Molina. Wacha then helped his cause with a two-out base hit that scored left fielder Randal Grichuk.

Third baseman Mark Reynolds led off the fourth with a triple to right center and Grichuk followed with one to virtually the same spot on a 1-2 count to drive in Reynolds for a 3-0 lead. Johnson then dribbled a single into center to bring home Grichuk to make it 4-0.

Wacha then singled to right for the fourth straight hit with none out, but Richard got three of the next four batters to ground out, including Carpenter's fielder's choice to first that resulted into a throw to the plate to tag Johnson.

The Cubs replied with two runs in bottom of the inning when Rizzo singled and scored on third baseman Kris Bryant's triple to right center with none out. With one out, Castro beat out an infield single to bring home Bryant.

Richard was replaced by left-hander Travis Wood to open the fifth inning. Richard allowed four runs on seven hits, walked three and struck out one.

NOTES: The Cardinals called up 1B Dan Johnson from Triple-A Memphis, where he was hitting .265 with 11 home runs and 42 RBIs in 61 games. LHP Tyler Lyons and RHP Marcus Hatley were optioned to Memphis. Lyons served as 26th man for Tuesday's doubleheader against the Cubs. ... St. Louis sends RHP Carlos Martinez (9-3, 2.70 ERA) against Pirates LHP Jeff Locke (5-4, 4.15) in Thursday's opener of a four-game series at Pittsburgh. ... 2B Anthony Rizzo and 3B Kris Bryant will represent the Cubs in the Home Run Derby next week, part of All-Star Game festivities in Cincinnati. Both are also on the National League All-Star team. ... The Cubs have Thursday off before opening a three-game interleague series at Wrigley Field against the Chicago White Sox. Cubs RHP Kyle Hendricks (4-4, 3.82) will oppose White Sox LHP Carlos Rodon (3-2, 4.18).