ST. LOUIS - Yadier Molina hit his fifth home run and Jake Westbrook pitched seven innings of two hit ball in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 4-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night.
Westbrook (3-2) worked around trouble almost the entire night in his second start since coming off the disabled list with a sore elbow. He gave up no earned runs, striking out two and walking three.
Edward Mujica pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 21st save in 21 attempts.
Edwin Jackson (3-9) was pulled after he hit Jon Jay following Molina’s blast to left field. He pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing four earned runs on six hits. He struck out one and walked two.
Allen Craig reached in the fifth after second baseman’s Darwin Barney’s throw on the back end of a double-play attempt went to the Cardinals dugout. Molina drove a 1-2 pitch just over the outfield wall to improve to 9 of 15 with three home runs against Jackson.
Jay went to third on a hit-and-run with Daniel Descalso singling to right and scored on a hit from Pete Kozma to give St. Louis a 4-1 lead.
BRAVES 5, METS 3 Chris Johnson homered for the first time in more than a month, Kris Medlen (4-7) overcame a defensive blunder and host Atlanta bounced back from a doubleheader sweep, beating New York.
NATIONALS 6, PHILLIES 2 Ian Desmond hit a grand slam in the 11th inning and visiting Washington beat Philadelphia, avoiding a three game sweep.
REDS 2, PIRATES 1 Jay Bruce ended Jason Grilli’s saves streak with a home run in the ninth, and Brandon Phillips singled with the bases loaded in the 13th inning, rallying Cincinnati over visiting Pittsburgh.
DIAMONDBACKS 3, MARLINS 1 Cody Ross hit a three-run, pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning and host Arizona held off Miami.
GIANTS 4, PADRES 2 Gregor Blanco had a pinch hit, two-run triple in the seventh inning, leading host San Francisco to a victory over San Diego.
American League
INDIANS 6, ROYALS 3 Justin Masterson managed to hang around for 6 1/3 innings and win for the sixth time at home, leading Cleveland to a victory over Kansas City.
ORIOLES 13, TIGERS 3 Chris Davis cleared the fences twice, giving him a major-league leading 26 home runs, to help visiting Baltimore beat Detroit.
RANGERS 9, ATHLETICS 4 David Murphy had three hits and scored twice to snap out of a long slump, and host Texas beat visiting Oakland. Justin Grimm (6-5) trailed when he threw his last pitch, but the Rangers scored twice in the bottom of the fifth to go ahead and make him the first Texas starter this month to get a victory.
RAYS 6, RED SOX 2 Desmond Jennings homered, Jeremy Hellickson pitched six strong innings and visiting Tampa Bay ended its drought at Fenway Park.
TWINS 7, WHITE SOX 4 Justin Morneau homered for the first time in almost two months, a two-run shot that helped host Minnesota defeat Chicago.
Interleague
BLUE JAYS 5, ROCKIES 2 Adam Lind hit a three-run home run, Mark Buehrle (4-4) won his second consecutive start and host Toronto earned its eighth consecutive victory, beating Colorado.
BREWERS 3, ASTROS 1 Rickie Weeks hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning and Aramis Ramirez added a home run in the ninth to lift visiting Milwaukee over Houston.
YANKEES 6-0, DODGERS 4-6 Hanley Ramirez capped a six-hit day with a pair of RBI singles, Yasiel Puig homered to complete a dazzling debut in New York and Los Angeles beat the Yankees for a split of their day-night doubleheader. The Dodgers salvaged Manager Don Mattingly’s return to the Bronx after a loss in the opener. Chris Capuano (2-5) pitched three hit ball for six innings in his comeback from the disabled list.
Wednesday’s games
NATIONAL LEAGUE Arizona 3, Miami 1 San Francisco 4, San Diego 2 Washington at Philadelphia, (n) Atlanta 5, NY Mets 3 Cincinnati 2, Pittsburgh 1, (13) St. Louis 4, Chicago Cubs 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE Baltimore 13, Detroit 3 Cleveland 6, Kansas City 3 Tampa Bay 6, Boston 2 Texas 9, Oakland 4 Minnesota 7, Chicago White Sox 4 Seattle at LA Angels, (n)
INTERLEAGUE NY Yankees 6-0, LA Dodgers 4-6 Toronto 5, Colorado 2 Milwaukee 3, Houston 1
Sports, Pages 22 on 06/20/2013