Yu Darvish pitched six effective innings in his fourth straight win, and the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-3 on Tuesday night.
Darvish allowed one run and eight hits while improving to 4-0 with a 1.04 ERA since he struggled in his first start of the season July 25 against Milwaukee — matching his career-best win streak. The right-hander struck out seven and walked one.
St. Louis pushed across two runs in the eighth and had runners on the corners when pinch-hitter Andrew Knizner looked at a called third strike from Rowan Wick, ending the inning.
Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said he appreciated the effort by Daniel Ponce de Leon (0-2) and his four relievers, who combined for 207 pitches in a game that lasted 4 hours, 9 minutes.
Cardinals outfielder Tyler O’Neill was scratched with a hand issue. Shildt said he might be able to play Wednesday.
C Yadier Molina, INF Paul DeJong, INF Rangel Ravelo and RHP Kodi Whitley have started working out again after they were cleared by Major League Baseball, according to Shildt. Each player was sidelined by the coronavirus.
St. Louis ace Jack Flaherty (1-0, 2.57 ERA) will start Game 1 of Wednesday’s doubleheader. Flaherty hasn’t pitched since he threw seven solid innings in a 5-4 victory over Pittsburgh on opening day. Alec Mills (2-1, 2.84 ERA) will get the ball for Chicago in Game 1. Neither team was ready to announce a starter for the second game, 12:25 with the pregame, first pitch at 1:20 on KIRX.
The first place Cubs lead second place St. Louis and Milwaukee by 4 and a half games in the NL Central.