Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
St. Louis 6, Chi. Cubs 3
When: 2:20 PM ET, Sunday, September 23, 2012
Where: Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois
Temperature: 57°
Umpires: Home - CB Bucknor, 1B - Dan Iassogna, 2B - Victor Carapazza, 3B - Bill Miller
Attendance: 33354

Cardinals 6, Cubs 3: Kyle Lohse recorded his 16th victory and Pete Kozma hit his first major-league homer as visiting St. Louis won the rubber game of the weekend series.

St. Louis won for the sixth time in seven games. The Cardinals maintained their 2 1/2-game lead over Milwaukee in the race for the second wild-card spot in the National League.

Lohse (16-3) allowed three runs on five hits with one walk and five strikeouts in six innings. Kozma provided needed breathing room in the sixth, hitting a 2-1 pitch from Chicago starter Justin Germano (2-9) over the wall in left-center field for a 4-2 lead.

Alfonso Soriano finished with three hits, including his 31st homer in the sixth to bring the Cubs within 4-3. Germano surrendered four runs on 10 hits with one walk and three strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.

Allen Craig doubled home two runs for St. Louis in the third and finished 3-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs. Kozma added two hits and drove in a run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly. Jason Motte pitched the ninth for his NL-leading 40th save.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Motte is one save ahead of Atlanta’s Craig Kimbrel for the NL lead. … The Cubs have lost six of their last seven contests. … St. Louis concludes its final road trip of the season with three games at Houston, starting Monday. Chicago begins its last road trip of 2012 with a three-game series at Colorado that begins Tuesday.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
St. Louis   Chi. Cubs
Kyle Lohse Player Justin Germano
Win W/L Loss
6.0 IP 5.2
5 Strikeouts 3
5 Hits 10
4.50 ERA 6.35
Hitting
St. Louis   Chi. Cubs
Allen Craig Player Alfonso Soriano
3 Hits 3
2 RBI 1
0 HR 1
4 TB 6
.750 Avg .750
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
St. Louis 12 1 16 .353 15 5 6 5 0 2
Chi. Cubs 7 1 12 .200 15 8 2 1 1 0