CHICAGO (AP) — Alec Burleson and Jordan Walker both homered and finished with three hits and four RBIs, and the St. Louis Cardinals pounded the Chicago Cubs 11-4 on Sunday for a second straight win at Wrigley Field.
Burleson has homered in consecutive games, boosting his total to 21 to tie his career high. Walker’s drive, his 24th, was just the second in 30 games for the All-Star right fielder and capped the Cardinals' six-run fourth inning.
Walker doubled twice and Burleson once to help St. Louis cruise to its fifth win in seven games.
Joshua Báez, who became the first player to hit three home runs in his first three at-bats in the major leagues on Saturday, went 0 for 5 with three strikeouts.
Pete Crow-Armstrong cracked his 28th home run, a two-run shot. Miguel Amaya added a solo drive in the ninth as Chicago lost for the third time in four.
Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson left the game after hurting himself when he swung and missed on the first pitch from Cardinals starter Hunter Dobbins in the third.
Cubs manager Craig Counsell said Swanson would have an MRI on Monday, but believed the two-time Gold Glove winner had sustained a left oblique injury that will land him on the injured list.
Dobbins (3-3) allowed two runs on two hits through five innings, striking out seven and walking four. Three relievers followed.
Cubs starter Edward Cabrera (5-5) struggled after coming off the injured list for his first start since June 23, when he suffered a left hamstring/adductor strain against the Mets in New York. To make room on the roster, the Cubs optioned right-hander Javier Assad to Triple-A Iowa.
Cabrera was rocked for seven runs on six hits in 3 2/3 innings. He walked three — all in the fourth — and all scored in the Cardinals’ six-run rally.
Burleson launched a sinker deep into the right-field bleachers for a 2-0 St. Louis lead in the first. The Cardinals upped it to 3-0 in the second, then blew it open in the fourth.
Burleson had two-run single and Walker a two-run shot to center in the rally.
Up next
Cardinals: LHP Quinn Matthews (0-1, 3.60 ERA) will be recalled from Triple-A Memphis to start the first game of a doubleheader at Cincinnati on Monday and face Reds RHP Rhett Lowder (4-8, 5.15) RHP Andre Pallante (12-6, 3.46) will start the second for the Cardinals
Cubs: LHP Shota Imanaga (8-9, 3.74 ERA) faces White Sox RHP Luis Castillo (4-9, 4.96) on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series at Wrigley.
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Matt Carlson, The Associated Press
