CHICAGO (AP) — Joc Pederson homered for the third straight game, Sergio Alcántara and Ian Happ also went deep, and the Chicago Cubs used a five-run second inning to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-2. Kyle Hendricks threw six solid innings for his sixth consecutive victory and the Cubs won for the seventh time in 11 games. Nolan Arenado and Paul DeJong hit home runs for the Cardinals, who have lost 10 of 12 and fell to .500 at 32-32 for the first time since April 28. John Gant lasted 1 2/3 innings to add to St. Louis’ rotation struggles.
Elsewhere in the MLB:
— Vladimir Guerrero Jr. smacked his major league-leading 20th home run and Marcus Semien stretched his road hitting streak to 25 games with a round-tripper in the Blue Jays’ 7-2 win at Boston. Bo Bichette (bih-SHEHT’), Cavan Biggio (BIH’-shee-oh), and Reese McGuire also went deep for the Blue Jays, who had dropped four of their last five.
— Dylan Cease (sees) allowed two runs on four hits in five innings before being removed with a 13-2 lead in the White Sox’s 15-2 dismantling of the Tigers. Brian Goodwin homered and drove in five runs in his White Sox debut, two days after being recalled from the minors.
— The Athletics improved to 11-2 against the AL Central as Matt Olson had four hits, including his 16th home run in an 11-2 pounding of the Royals. Matt Chapman also connected and drove in three runs for Oakland, while Skye Bolt added his first career home run.
— Minnesota’s José Berríos (beh-REE’-ohs) struck out eight over seven commanding innings of a 5-2 victory against the Astros. Jorge Polanco (poh-LAHN’-koh) homered for the fifth time in 11 games and finished with three RBIs.
— César Hernández scored on a throwing error by losing pitcher Paul Sewald in the 10th inning, completing the Indians’ rally for a 5-4 victory over the Mariners. Hernandez also homered in the eighth after Cleveland fell behind, 4-0. Rene Rivera tied it with a two-run double in the ninth.
— The Mets were 4-1 winners over the Padres as Marcus Stroman limited San Diego to one run and six hits with eight strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings. Francisco Lindor (lihn-DOHR’) slammed a two-run homer in the first inning and Stroman blanked the Padres until Fernando Tatis (tah-TEES’) Jr. smacked his 18th homer of the season in the seventh.
— Zach Thompson picked up his first major league win by tossing five shutout innings in the Marlins’ third straight victory, 4-2 over the Braves. Adam Duvall and Lewin Díaz hit solo homers and Miami dealt Atlanta its fourth loss in a row.
— Erick Fedde (FEH’-dee) returned after nearly a month on the COVID-19 injured list, tossing four-hit ball while fanning seven over five innings of the Nationals’ 2-1 victory over the Giants. Kyle Schwarber belted a first-inning homer in the opener of a day-night twinbill.
— The Giants gained a split by scoring twice in the eighth to beat Washington, 2-1. The game was scoreless until LaMonte Wade and Wilmer Flores provided RBI singles.
— Nate Lowe was 3-for-5 with a two-run homer and three RBIs for the Rangers in a 12-1 thrashing of the Dodgers. Jonah Heim and Jason Martin also homered as Texas ended a 16-game road losing streak, the team’s longest since moving from Washington.
— Jean Segura scored Ronald Torreyes with an infield single in the 10th inning to give the Phillies their fifth win in six games, 8-7 over the Yankees. Segura’s second walk-off hit in as many games came after DJ LeMahieu launched a tying, three-run homer in the ninth for New York.
— Christian Yelich (YEH’-lihch) provided a pair of hits, including a three-run double during a five-run fourth inning of the Brewers’ 12th win in 14 games, 7-4 over the Pirates. Omar Narvaez (nahr-VY’-ehz) also had two hits, RBI singles in the third and fourth innings.
— Wade Miley was 2-for-2 with a walk and allowed just two earned runs over seven innings to send the Reds to a 10-3 rout of the Rockies. Joey Votto (VAH’-toh) poked a go-ahead, two-run single and Tyler Naquin had three hits to help Cincinnati win for the ninth time in 12 games since falling a season-worst six games under .500.
— Anthony Rendon homered and drove in four runs as the Angels rallied to beat the Diamondbacks, 8-7. Los Angeles trailed by as many as five and took the lead in the ninth on RBI singles by Jose Iglesias and Taylor Ward.
