(Sports Network) – Jake Westbrook has pitched well under the lights. The 33- year-old right-hander aims to help the Cardinals finish off a weekend sweep of the Chicago Cubs tonight at Busch Stadium.

Westbrook is 3-0 over his last seven starts and hasn’t lost since June 12 at Milwaukee. Additionally, he’s 7-1 in 13 night starts this season. Most recently, Westbrook limited Houston to a run over six innings in a 3-1 win on Tuesday.

The veteran has a career 2-1 record with a 6.59 ERA vs. the Cubs in three games. He suffered an 11-4 loss at Wrigley Field on May 11 in a game that was delayed 53 minutes due to rain. Westbrook worked two scoreless innings to start, but was rockied for five runs after the delay.

Ryan Dempster will try to snap a personal two-game skid tonight. The Cubs righty gave up three runs over six innings in a defeat at Milwaukee Tuesday. He’s 7-8 in 45 games (19 starts) vs. the Cardinals.

The Cardinals, who are knocking on the door for first place in the NL Central, have owned the Cubs in this series by a combined 22-7 count. They are 1 1/2 games behind the Brewers for first place and after this game, a three-game set at Milwaukee looms.

Ryan Theriot’s three-run double capped an eight-run fifth inning Saturday as the Cardinals erupted for a 13-5 win. Theriot finished with four hits, Albert Pujols hit a solo homer and David Freese had a two-run homer and three RBI for the Cardinals.

The Cubs, who have lost five in a row, scored all five of their runs in the first inning off Kyle Lohse, who settled down to pitch four sparkling innings after that to get the win.

Chicago had two of its three hits in the inning — Geovany Soto’s two-run double and Alfonso Soriano’s three-run homer — before Lohse (9-7) retired the next 12 batters in a row.

“You can’t give Kyle enough credit,” said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. “A real rough start and then all of a sudden he shuts them down. That’s baseball.”

The Cardinals sent 12 batters to the plate during the fifth inning, taking a 10-5 lead with a rally that included two doubles, two singles, five walks and an error. Two of the walks were intentional.

The inning lasted around 30 minutes. During it, Cubs manager Mike Quade was ejected for arguing with second base umpire Derryl Cousins about Matt Holliday’s hard slide into Chicago shortstop Starlin Castro on a force play that scored two runs.

Holliday slid hard into Castro, throwing his legs out to break up the chance of an inning-ending double play. Five more runs scored after the play, which left Castro with a ripped sock from Holliday’s spikes.

“Momentum in the game is huge,” Quade complained.

The Cardinals are 7-1 against the Cubs this season, winning the last six meetings.

 

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St. Louis scored eight runs in the fifth inning, including five after Holliday broke up a potential inning-ending double play.

With one out and the bases loaded, Holliday walked and that ended the day for starter Rodrigo Lopez (2-3).

Reliever Jeff Samardzija entered and David Freese hit a grounder to second baseman Darwin Barney, who threw to shortstop Starlin Castro to start a double play. However, Holliday’s slide took out Castro as John Jay scored. As Castro was lying on the infield, Albert Pujols scooted home to tie it at 5.

Cubs manager Mike Quade come out to argue and was ejected by second base umpire Derryl Cousins. Quade said he believed Holliday was out of the line and could not touch second from where he hit Castro.

“There’s not much to talk about,” Quade said. “I disagreed with Derryl’s assessment that is was a clean play. I think that’s why they have the rule in place. There wasn’t an attempt at the bag and he got a pretty good piece of Castro as well.

“That was a huge play obviously in the game, too. It gets us out of there with a 5-3 lead.”

Castro, sporting a bruise on his leg, said it was not a “clean” slide by Holliday.

“He slide real hard, real hard. It’s not clean,” Castro said. “He slide hard and way out of the base. It’s baseball, you know. You try to break the double play.”

Of course, the Cardinals saw it differently.

“I mean, I watched it on tape. He’s sliding into the bag,” St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. “He’s in the scene of the base and that’s just good baseball.”

The Cardinals went on to make 10-5 after the inning and never looked back.

St. Louis has won six in a row over the Cubs, who have lost five consecutive games.

Aramis Ramirez said Chicago’s woes can’t be traced to Quade.

“You know, this isn’t Quade’s fault,” Ramirez said. “I don’t care who you bring in. It’s not the manager’s fault. He doesn’t play. The only thing he can do is making pitching changes and make the lineup. The rest of it we have to take care of. I don’t think this is the manager’s fault.”

Pujols and Freese each homered and Ryan Theriot added four hits and three RBIs to spark St. Louis’ victory.

It was the 432nd homer of Pujols’ career and came one day after he reached 2,000 hits. The home run places him alone in 40th place on the career list. He just missed getting a second one when the ball sailed just outside the left-field foul pole in the seventh inning.

Kyle Lohse (9-7) pitched five innings before being lifted for a pinch-hitter. He allowed five runs — none earned — and gave up two hits.

St. Louis sent 12 men to the plate in the fifth and scored eight runs on four hits to take a 10-5 lead.

John Russell relieved Samardzija, who walked three and gave up four runs and two hits in one-third on an inning, and struck out Jay to end the inning.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Chicago Cubs lost the lead, then their cool, after a hard slide by St. Louis All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday.

The Cubs scored five unearned runs on just two hits in the first, then were blanked from there in the Cardinals’ 13-5 victory on Saturday.

St. Louis scored eight runs in the fifth inning, including five after Holliday broke up a potential inning-ending double play.

With one out and the bases loaded, Holliday walked and that ended the day for starter Rodrigo Lopez (2-3).

Reliever Jeff Samardzija entered and David Freese hit a grounder to second baseman Darwin Barney, who threw to shortstop Starlin Castro to start a double play. However, Holliday’s slide took out Castro as John Jay scored. As Castro was lying on the infield, Albert Pujols scooted home to tie it at 5.

Cubs manager Mike Quade come out to argue and was ejected by second base umpire Derryl Cousins. Quade said he believed Holliday was out of the line and could not touch second from where he hit Castro.

“There’s not much to talk about,” Quade said. “I disagreed with Derryl’s assessment that is was a clean play. I think that’s why they have the rule in place. There wasn’t an attempt at the bag and he got a pretty good piece of Castro as well.

“That was a huge play obviously in the game, too. It gets us out of there with a 5-3 lead.”

Castro, sporting a bruise on his leg, said it was not a “clean” slide by Holliday.

“He slide real hard, real hard. It’s not clean,” Castro said. “He slide hard and way out of the base. It’s baseball, you know. You try to break the double play.”

Of course, the Cardinals saw it differently.

“I mean, I watched it on tape. He’s sliding into the bag,” St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. “He’s in the scene of the base and that’s just good baseball.”

The Cardinals went on to make 10-5 after the inning and never looked back.

St. Louis has won six in a row over the Cubs, who have lost five consecutive games.

Aramis Ramirez said Chicago’s woes can’t be traced to Quade.

“You know, this isn’t Quade’s fault,” Ramirez said. “I don’t care who you bring in. It’s not the manager’s fault. He doesn’t play. The only thing he can do is making pitching changes and make the lineup. The rest of it we have to take care of. I don’t think this is the manager’s fault.”

Pujols and Freese each homered and Ryan Theriot added four hits and three RBIs to spark St. Louis’ victory.

It was the 432nd homer of Pujols’ career and came one day after he reached 2,000 hits. The home run places him alone in 40th place on the career list. He just missed getting a second one when the ball sailed just outside the left-field foul pole in the seventh inning.

Kyle Lohse (9-7) pitched five innings before being lifted for a pinch-hitter. He allowed five runs — none earned — and gave up two hits.

St. Louis sent 12 men to the plate in the fifth and scored eight runs on four hits to take a 10-5 lead.

John Russell relieved Samardzija, who walked three and gave up four runs and two hits in one-third on an inning, and struck out Jay to end the inning.

“Unfortunately, Jeff didn’t have a very good day to get us out and stop the bleeding,” Quade said. “But he damn well could have. He made a pitch that Barney and Castro were in the process of turning a hell of a double play to get us out of that mess. I think the game’s different if we get out of that. I really do.”

Freese hit a two-run homer in the sixth for a 12-5 St. Louis advantage. St. Louis added a run in the seventh when Theriot hit his second double.

The Cardinals began chipping away at the early Cubs lead with two runs in the first. Pujols blasted a two-out solo homer. His last four home runs have all come in the first inning. Holliday followed with a double and he scored on Skip Schumaker’s single to center.

Chicago jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning. Shortstop Daniel Descalso booted leadoff hitter Castro’s grounder. After a sacrifice, Lohse walked two batters before getting Marlon Byrd to pop out to second. Geovany Soto then hit a two-run double to center before Soriano cleared the bases with a home run to left field.

“That’s why you play nine innings,” Ramirez said. “St. Louis is one of the best offensive teams in the National League. They are so tough and they never give up. They came right back and scored two and they took off from there.”

NOTES: Theriot, who has been charged with a team-high 16 errors at shortstop, started at second base for the first time this season. … St. Louis’ right fielder Lance Berkman did not play Saturday as he remained sidelined with a strained right shoulder. Berkman has started just one of the first six games on the homestand. … With their five runs in the first, the Cubs have scored 63 runs, making it their most productive frame of year. … After allowing two St. Louis runs in the first inning, Chicago now has surrendered 87 first-inning runs, the most of any team in baseball. … Yadier Molina hit into a double play in the fourth to raise the Cardinals’ major league-leading total to 114. … Chicago committed two errors in the loss giving them a major-league leading 93 for the season.

Ryan Theriot regained his hitting touch at the expense of his old teammates.

Theriot, who broke a 2-for-38 slump with two hits after coming in as a pinch-hitter Friday, rapped four hits and drove in three runs Saturday to help the St. Louis Cardinals overcome a five-run deficit in a 13-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

“It’s been a rough couple of weeks,” Theriot said. “You search and look for something that’s wrong and you realize it’s nothing and get back to what you were doing.”

Theriot said he sat down recently with teammate Skip Schumaker and the left-hander showed him a few things.

“I don’t want to go into any details. It’s a secret,” Theriot quipped. “It’s just good to have some fresh eyes.”

Theriot is 6 for 7 with six RBIs against his former team in two games and is hitting .571 against the Cubs.

“It’s funny because they said he was in a big slump,” Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez said. “I guess he picked the right time to get for him and the wrong time for us.”

St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said Theriot is playing like he did earlier this season.

“He gets base hits and he gets clutch hits. That’s what he did the whole first half and he just went into this funk,” La Russa said. “This looks more like him. He’s spraying the ball all over.”

Albert Pujols and David Freese each homered for the Cardinals. They have won six in a row over the Cubs, who have lost five consecutive games.

It was the 432nd homer of Pujols’ career and came one day after he reached 2,000 hits. The home run places him alone in 40th place on the career list. He just missed getting a second one when the ball sailed just outside the left-field foul pole in the seventh inning.

Kyle Lohse (9-7) pitched five innings before being lifted for a pinch-hitter. He allowed five runs — none earned — and gave up two hits.

Chicago was unable to score again and did not get another hit until the ninth inning.

St. Louis sent 12 men to the plate in the fifth and scored eight runs on four hits to take a 10-5 and chase starter Rodrigo Lopez (2-3), who pitched 4 1-3 innings.

Theriot got two of his hits in the big inning and drove in two runs. He singled with one out and John Jay followed with a double. Pujols was given an intentional walk to load the bases. Matt Holliday walked to score Theriot.

Reliever Jeff Samardzija entered and Freese hit a grounder to second baseman Darwin Barney, who threw to shortstop Starlin Castro to start a double play. However, a hard slide by Holliday took out Castro as Jay scored. As he was lying on the infield, Pujols scooted home to tie it at 5.

Cubs manager Mike Quade come out to argue and was ejected by second base umpire Derryl Cousins.

“There’s not much to talk about,” Quade said. “I disagreed with Derry’s assessment that is was a clean play. I think that’s why they have the rule in place. There wasn’t an attempt at the bag and he got a pretty good piece of Castro as well.

“That was a huge play obviously in the game, too. It gets us out of there with a 5-3 lead.”

After Schumaker walked, Yadier Molina singled to center and took second on the throw home. Daniel Descalso was intentionally walked to load the bases. Tony Cruz pinch-hit for Lohse and drew the third walk by Samardzija to force in Schumaker.

Theriot drove in the final two runs with a double to left field. Cruz scored on a throwing error by left fielder Alfonso Soriano.

“That was a heck of an at-bat he had against Samardzija,” La Russa said about Theriot. “That to me was one of the big at-bats to the game that big guy’s throwing 94-95. That was as big as anything that happened.”

John Russell relieved Samardzija, who walked three and gave up four runs and two hits in one-third on an inning, and struck out Jay to end the inning.

Freese hit a two-run homer in the sixth for a 12-5 St. Louis advantage. St. Louis added a run in the seventh when Theriot hit his second double.

The Cardinals began chipping away at the early Cubs lead with two runs in the first. Pujols blasted a two-out solo homer. His last four home runs have all come in the first inning. Holliday followed with a double and he scored on Schumaker’s single to center.

Chicago jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning. Shortstop Daniel Descalso booted leadoff hitter Castro’s grounder. After a sacrifice, Lohse walked two batters before getting Marlon Byrd to pop out to second. Geovany Soto then hit a two-run double to center before Soriano cleared the bases with a home run to left field.

NOTES: Theriot, who has been charged with a team-high 16 errors at shortstop, started at second base for the first time this season. … St. Louis’ right fielder Lance Berkman did not play Saturday as he remained sidelined with a strained right shoulder. Berkman has started just one of the first six games on the homestand. … With their five runs in the first, the Cubs have scored 63 runs, making it their most productive frame of year. … After allowing two St. Louis runs in the first inning, Chicago now has surrendered 87 first-inning runs, the most of any team in baseball. … Molina hit into a double play in the fourth to raise the Cardinals’ major-league leading total to 114. … Chicago committed two errors in the loss giving them a major-league leading 93 for the season.

The St. Louis Cardinals fell behind 5-0, then scored 13 unanswered runs and held on to beat the Chicago Cubs 13-5 Saturday afternoon at Busch Stadium.

Albert Pujols and David Freese homered for St. Louis, who reached its second highest run total in a game this season.

The Cubs scored five runs in the top of the 1st off Cards starter Kyle Lohse (9-7), with the big blow coming off the bat of Chicago’s leftfielder Alfonso Soriano, who smashed a three run homer to left field.

But St. Louis came right back with two runs of its own in the bottom of the 1st. Pujols’ home run to left was his 24th of the season and the 432nd of his career, leaving him in 40th place on the all time list. Skip Schumaker also drove in a run in the inning for St. Louis, making the score 5-2 Chicago.

The Cardinals sent 11 hitters to the plate in an eight run 5th inning that featured four hits, two bases loaded walks and a bizarre play at second base. With the bases loaded, Freese hit a ground ball to second baseman Darwin Barney, who threw to shortstop Starlin Castro for the force out at second. Matt Holliday’s slide took out Castro, scoring Jon Jay. But Castro never turned around to look as Pujols scored all the way from second. Cubs manager Mike Quade argued vehemently with the umpire, and was tossed from the game. When the inning finally came to an end, the Cards were on top 10-5.

St. Louis added two more runs in the 6th on Freese’s second home run in as many days, extending the lead to 12-5, then plated a 13th run in the 7th inning on Ryan Theriot’s RBI double.

In getting the win, Lohse went five innings, allowing five runs on only two hits. Lance Lynn, Octavio Dotel, and Fernando Salas pitched a combined four innings, allowing only one hit. In fact, when Marlon Byrd got a one out double for Chicago in the 9th, it was the first hit allowed by the Cardinals since the 1st inning.

Rodrigo Lopez (2-3) took the loss for Chicago, giving up six runs on eight hits in 4 1/3 innings.

The Cardinals improve to 57-50 on the season, and will go for the sweep Sunday night against the Cubs. Jake Westbrook (9-4) will go to the mound for St. Louis against Chicago’s Ryan Dempster (7-8).