Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee each homered as the Chicago Cubs snapped a three-game slide with a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday afternoon.
Carlos Zambrano (4-6) earned his first win since June 20 with 5 2/3 solid frames and Carlos Marmol locked down his 20th save of the season for the Cubs (49-68), who have won just three of 13 games this month.
The Cardinals (65-50) opened the scoring after Matt Holliday’s sacrifice fly pushed across a run in the first inning.
But Chicago wasted no time taking the lead in the second when Ramirez led off the frame with a solo homer off Chris Carpenter (13-4) and Koyie Hill drove in the tie-breaking run with an RBI double to left.
Lee added a solo shot - his 14th blast of the season - in the third and Zambrano managed to hold the lead, yielding two runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out three.
Carpenter suffered his first loss since July 8, surrendering all three runs on six hits while striking out three.
Chi. Cubs | St. Louis | |
Carlos Zambrano | Player | Chris Carpenter |
Win | W/L | Loss |
5.2 | IP | 6.0 |
3 | Strikeouts | 3 |
7 | Hits | 6 |
3.18 | ERA | 4.50 |
Chi. Cubs | St. Louis | |
Aramis Ramirez | Player | Jon Jay |
2 | Hits | 2 |
1 | RBI | 0 |
1 | HR | 0 |
5 | TB | 2 |
.500 | Avg | .667 |