Lars Nootbaar lofted a tie-breaking sacrifice fly in the ninth inning for the visiting St. Louis Cardinals, who overcame a three-run deficit to edge the Chicago Cubs 5-4 on Saturday afternoon.
The Cardinals, who dropped the first two games of the four-game series, improved to 7-8 since the All-Star Break. The Cubs had their three-game winning streak snapped.
The Cubs raced out to a 4-1 lead by scoring two runs apiece in the first two innings, but a trio of Cardinals pitchers limited Chicago to two hits over the final seven innings to set up the St. Louis comeback.
The Cardinals tied the game in the eighth, when Alec Burleson scored from second after Cubs third baseman Isaac Paredes threw wide of first on a one-out grounder by Brendan Donovan. Nolan Arenado followed three pitches later with a two-run single.
St. Louis’ Tommy Pham led off the ninth with a triple against Hector Neris (8-4) and trotted home on Nootbaar’s fly to center.
JoJo Romero (5-1) threw a perfect eighth before Ryan Helsley earned his major league-leading 34th save with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Donovan finished 3-for-4 while Arenado and Pham had two hits. Burleson gave the Cardinals a short-lived lead in the first, when he hit a one-out homer against Jameson Taillon- his first round-tripper since July 21.
Cardinals starter Kyle Gibson gave up four runs on five hits and one walk while striking out seven over seven innings. The seven innings tied a season-high for Gibson.
The veteran right-hander surrendered a two-run homer to Michael Busch in the first before Pete Crow-Armstrong laced an RBI triple in the second and scored on a safety squeeze by Miguel Amaya for the 4-1 advantage.
Taillon allowed one run on six hits and no walks while striking out four over six innings. He has lasted at least six innings in 11 of his 19 starts this season.
Busch and Nico Hoerner had two hits apiece for the Cubs.