Justin Steele threw 6 2/3 solid innings to help lead the Chicago Cubs to a 6-2 win over the visiting St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.
In his first victory since July 11, Steele (3-5) allowed two runs on three hits, while striking out six and walking two. Mike Tauchman and Miguel Amaya each finished 2-for-4 with a solo home run for the Cubs, who won their fourth game in five tries.
St. Louis managed just four hits, including Masyn Winn’s two-run homer in the third. Miles Mikolas (8-9) suffered the loss for the Cardinals, who dropped three of four in the series.
After a scoreless first two innings, Lars Nootbaar led off the top of the third with a single for St. Louis. Winn launched his ninth homer of the year two batters later, giving the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.
With Chicago still trailing in the bottom of the fourth, Isaac Paredes laced a one-out single. Tauchman then doubled, and Dansby Swanson followed with an RBI groundout.
With two outs and Tauchman on third, Mikolas balked in another run to tie the score 2-2.
In the bottom of the fifth, Amaya and Nico Hoerner singled to put runners on the corners for Chicago. Michael Busch then singled in the go-ahead run. After walking Seiya Suzuki to load the bases with nobody out, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol pulled Mikolas for John King.
Cody Bellinger drove in Hoerner with a sacrifice fly, putting a stamp on Mikolas’ stat line. The St. Louis starter allowed four runs on eight hits in four-plus innings, walking two and striking out three.
With King still pitching in the bottom of the sixth, Tauchman led off the inning with his sixth homer of the season. King retired Swanson and Pete Crow-Armstrong, and was then replaced by Ryan Fernandez. Amaya greeted the new reliever with his fourth homer of the season, giving the Cubs a 6-2 lead.
Tommy Pham lined out to begin the seventh. Alec Burleson reached on Paredes’ fielding error. Steele then walked Brendan Donovan but struck out Nootbaar.
After 99 pitches, Steele was replaced by Porter Hodge, who escaped the inning by retiring Pedro Pages on a flyout to left.
Hodge, Tyson Miller and Julian Merryweather combined for 2 1/3 scoreless innings out of the Chicago bullpen.