CINCINNATI, Sept. 12 (UPI) — Starlin Castro went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer and scored four times Monday, helping power the Chicago Cubs past Cincinnati 12-8.

Castro also stroked an RBI double while raising his National League-leading hits total to 190 as the Cubs took the opener of a four-game set.

Aramis Ramirez added three hits and two RBI, including a solo homer, and Alfonso Soriano knocked in three with a single and double as the Cubs banged out 16 hits.

Rodrigo Lopez (5-6) earned the win despite coughing up nine hits — including four home runs — through 5 1/3 innings.

Brandon Phillips went deep twice while Devin Mesoraco and Juan Francisco also homered for Cincinnati.

Reds starter Dontrelle Willis (0-6) lasted only 3 1/3 innings, getting pounded for eight runs on nine hits.

Brian Burres pitched into the sixth in his first start of the season and Alex Presley had two triples, helping the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs 3-1 on Friday. 

Presley reached four times and scored twice as Pittsburgh snapped a five-game losing streak. Josh Harrison doubled, singled and scored twice. 

Burres (1-0) allowed one run and five hits over 5 1-3 innings. The left-hander was promoted from Triple-A Indianapolis on Thursday. 

Four Pirates relievers combined for 3 2-3 perfect innings, with Joel Hanrahan picking up his 33rd save in 36 chances. Jason Grilli got the last two outs of the sixth, Chris Leroux pitched the seventh and Jose Veras worked the eighth before Hanrahan struck out two in the ninth. 

Carlos Pena went deep for the Cubs, who have lost nine of 12. The first baseman now has at least 25 homers in five straight seasons and six times overall in his career. 

Ryan Dempster (10-11) worked out of a couple of early jams and held Pittsburgh to three runs and seven hits over 6 1-3 innings. He struck out nine, two shy of his season best, and threw a season-high 121 pitches. 

Pena connected in the second, hitting a drive to the deepest part of center field to give the Cubs the lead. 

Pittsburgh responded with two in the third. Presley led off with a triple off the right-field wall and Harrison followed with a single to right. Garrett Jones added a two-out RBI double. 

Neither team mounted much offense after that. The Cubs stranded two runners in the third and fourth. The Pirates didn’t threaten again until Presley’s one-out triple in the seventh chased Dempster. Presley scored on Jose Tabata’s two-out single off Kerry Wood. 

Presley became the first Pirate to record two triples in a game since Andrew McCutchen on June 8, 2009. He has five triples on the season. 

Fielding woes have plagued the Cubs, who entered with a major league-leading 114 errors and added two more on Friday. That doesn’t include a miscue in the first when Harrison’s grounder to shortstop Starlin Castro was misplayed into a rare infield double when the Cubs failed to cover second base. 

McCutchen was hit in the left wrist area in the first inning. He remained in the game to run the bases, but was replaced by Tabata before the Cubs batted in the bottom half. 

NOTES: The Cubs promoted 1B Bryan LaHair from Triple-A Iowa. LaHair’s 38 home runs for Iowa were leading the minor leagues. . Cubs RHP Andrew Cashner (right rotator cuff sprain) pitched a scoreless inning in a rehab outing for Iowa. Manager Mike Quade said Cashner reached 99 mph with his fastball and the club is hopeful he will return to the big leagues next week. . The Cubs announced that RHP Carlos Zambrano will not pitch for them again this season, even though his time on the disqualified list expires on Sept. 11. . RHP Jeff Karstens (shoulder), who was scratched from his scheduled start Friday, played catch but is likely to miss more than just this start, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. . Pirates 1B Derrek Lee (left wrist) took batting practice and the team hopes to activate him from the 15-day disabled list on Sunday if all goes well. . The Cubs will send RHP Casey Coleman to the hill on Saturday to face Pittsburgh RHP Ross Ohlendorf. Coleman has an 11.34 ERA in 19 2-3 innings at Wrigley Field this season.

MILWAUKEE, Aug. 26 (UPI) — Randy Wolf settled down after giving up a first-inning homer Friday and the Milwaukee Brewers rallied to defeat the Chicago Cubs 5-2.

Wolf (11-8) gave up one earned run on four hits over 6 2/3 innings. Starlin Castro hit the home run for the Cubs in the first, but Milwaukee came back to take the lead with two unearned runs in the fifth.

George Kottaras hit a solo homer for the Brewers in the fourth and Prince Fielder drove in a run with a single in the seventh.

Milwaukee has split its last four games, but the Brewers have won 25 times in their last 30 contests while building a 9 1/2-game lead over second-place St. Louis in the National League Central.

John Axford picked up his 38th save despite allowing runners on the corners in the ninth inning.

The loss went to Rodrigo Lopez (4-5), who gave up four runs on five hits in six innings.

“It’s always good if you can do some damage early but we couldn’t,” Cubs manager Mike Quade said. “We created plenty of opportunities, that’s for sure.”

The Cubs had just two hits with runners in scoring position in 14 tries.

Jurrjens (13-5) allowed eight hits and walked five. The Cubs had nine hits and drew a season-high seven walks but still ended up with a goose egg on the board and stranded a season-high 15 runners on the night.

“He’s got a very good movement on the ball so I think that he’s got good location,” Chicago’s Alfonso Soriano said. “He knows what he’s doing when he’s pitching.

“That was the key to why we lost tonight because we left a lot of runners in scoring position. We didn’t get that big hit tonight.”

The Cubs fell to 13-7 this month, missing out on a chance to start an August 14-6 for just the third time in 78 years.

The Cubs played without Starlin Castro, who was benched for a “mental day off” by manager Mike Quade after television cameras captured the 21-year-old shortstop not paying attention as a pitch was thrown during Sunday night’s loss to St. Louis.

Castro, who leads the NL with 164 hits, was the only position player not to make an appearance for the Cubs, who used four pinch-hitters. Quade said he would have used Castro in the ninth had the pitcher’s spot come up again.

“I was kind of hoping to use him in the ninth, that means would we have gotten to (the pitcher’s) spot,” Quade said. “I would have used him.”

With Castro out of the lineup, Darwin Barney moved over from second base and made a couple of sparkling plays at shortstop, including a diving stop on Uggla’s hard-hit ball in the third that saved a run.

“He’s a good little player, isn’t he?” Quade said. “His versatility is huge. He did a real good job tonight.”

Quade said he wasn’t sure if Castro would be back in the starting lineup on Tuesday.

Jonny Venters walked the first two batters in the ninth, but got the last three outs for his fifth save, a fitting end for the Cubs’ parade of stranded runners.

“That’s not the way you draw it up, but (Venters has) got that composure that he can get out of that jam,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said.

Ryan Dempster (10-9) struck out eight over six innings but fell to 2-10 in his career against the Braves. He allowed homers to Dan Uggla and Freddie Freeman, plus a scratch run in the third.

“Couple of bad pitches,” Dempster said. “Freeman’s ball, it’s the first time I’ve ever faced him and he hit a first-pitch slider out. I hung a pitch to Uggla.”

Freeman opened the scoring with a solo homer in the second. Uggla led off the sixth by hitting a drive onto Waveland Avenue.

“Who’d have thought, right?,” Uggla said. “I guess that’s where I’ve got to hit them against this team.”

Aramis Ramirez singled his first three times up for the Cubs, extending his hitting streak to 11 games. He’s hitting .512 (22 for 43) during that stretch.

NOTES: Cubs reliever Kerry Wood struck out the side in the ninth and has now struck out 14 of the last 19 batters he’s faced. Braves RHP Tommy Hanson threw nine pitches during a short bullpen session on Monday and is slated to throw again on Tuesday as the latest step in his recovery from right rotator cuff tendinitis. Atlanta is hoping Hanson can make a rehab start on Saturday for Triple-A Gwinnett. … Monday marked the first anniversary of Quade’s ascension as Cubs manager. On Aug. 22, 2010, former skipper Lou Piniella announced his retirement and Quade was given the job on an interim basis. He had the interim tag removed after leading the Cubs to a 24-13 finish. … Atlanta will send LHP Mike Minor to the mound on Tuesday to face Chicago’s Casey Coleman, who is 0-3 with a 12.27 ERA in five appearances this season at Wrigley Field.

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Matt Garza pitched seven sharp innings, Aramis Ramirez homered and the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 Saturday.

Garza (6-9) scattered five hits, struck out eight and won at Wrigley Field for the first time since June 27.

Sean Marshall, Kerry Wood and Carlos Marmol finished off the shutout. Marmol earned his 29th save in 37 chances.

Ramirez’s two-run homer highlighted a three-run burst in the fourth off Edwin Jackson (2-2). Jackson allowed five hits in seven innings after leaving his last start with a right hamstring cramp.

Garza had been solid at home lately with a 1.75 ERA in his previous five starts. But the Cubs had scored a total of just seven runs in those games, leaving him with an 0-2 record.

Early on, it looked as if it might be more of the same for Garza after Jackson held the Cubs hitless and faced the minimum through three innings. Things changed in the fourth as the Cubs hit for the cycle.

Starlin Castro led off with a single and Ramirez connected one out later for his 24th home run. Carlos Pena then tripled and Marlon Byrd doubled.

Ramirez’s homer was Chicago’s 29th in August, most in the majors.

The Cubs helped themselves by turning two double plays. Before the game, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said his team’s propensity for hitting into DPs as “brutal.” St. Louis has hit into 136 double plays this season, by far the most in the majors.

It was Jackson’s turn to be a hard-luck loser despite pitching effectively for the fourth time in five starts since he was traded to St. Louis. Jackson was making his first appearance in Chicago since being dealt by the crosstown White Sox on July 27.

Garza started slowly, allowing a leadoff double to John Jay in the first and later walking two batters to load the bases. He recovered to get David Freese on an inning-ending double play, the first of 10 straight batters he retired.

The attendance was announced at 42,374, up 31 from Friday’s gathering, which was the Cubs’ largest crowd since opening day in 1978.

NOTES: Cubs manager Mike Quade said he hasn’t spoken to pitcher Carlos Zambrano since he left the team’s clubhouse in during a game Atlanta on Aug. 12, but expects to at some point. Zambrano was subsequently placed on the disqualified list. The Cubs have won five of seven games since Zambrano left the team. … St. Louis OF Matt Holliday and SS Rafael Furcal were out of the lineup for what La Russa called a “mental and physical part day off.” Holliday entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the seventh. … Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan left the team and returned to St. Louis to attend to a personal matter. He is expected to rejoin the club when it returns home on Monday. Bullpen coach Derek Lilliquist will fill in for Duncan. … Ramirez’s homer was his 12th first-pitch shot this season, most in the majors. … St. Louis’ Lance Berkman, who entered August with 28 home runs, has gone homerless in 17 games so far this month. … Chicago’s Rodrigo Lopez will face St. Louis’ Jake Westbrook in Sunday’s series finale. Lopez is 4-6 with a 6.44 ERA in eight career games against St. Louis. Westbrook has a 9.72 ERA in two starts against the Cubs this season.