Bourjos scores on throwing error in 10th as Cards beat Cubs
ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Cardinals used power to tie the game, and took advantage of a mistake by the Chicago Cubs to win it.
Greg Garcia hit first career home run -- a pinch-hit blast in the eighth inning -- and Peter Bourjos scored the winning run from third on a bases-loaded, no-out throwing error by Mike Baxter to help the Cardinals to a 3-2, 10-inning win in a battle of NL Central rivals.
It was St. Louis' fourth win in a row and seventh straight at home, and the Cardinals improved to a major league-best 27-7 at home.
With the game tied in the 10th, Jhonny Peralta slapped a routine grounder to second base, where Baxter -- the right fielder -- had come in to play with the bases loaded, giving the Cubs five infielders. Baxter cleanly fielded the ball and had plenty of time, but threw wildly to the third-base side of the plate.
"I threw it away, I didn't make the play," Baxter said. "It's something I'm very capable of doing."
Bourjos began the 10th inning with a double off reliever Justin Grimm (1-2). Kolten Wong followed with a single off the second-base bag and Matt Carpenter was walked to load the bases.
Seth Maness (2-0) picked up the win in relief.
Chicago lost its third in a row after a four-game winning streak.
Garcia set up the Cardinals' sixth extra-inning win in nine tries with his homer off Pedro Strop leading off the eighth that tied it at 2. It was the Cardinals' first pinch-hit homer of the season -- from an unlikely source.
"I'm not a power hitter by any means," Garcia said.
Garcia is 3 for 4 as a pinch hitter since being recalled from Triple A Memphis on June 19.
"I had a feeling he was going to throw me a fastball," Garcia said. "I put a good swing on it. It was surreal. I can't even put it into words."
St. Louis manager Mike Matheny was confident that Garcia would at least get on base.
"I figured he'd go up there and put a pretty good rip into it," Matheny said. "I didn't expect to see the ball leave (the park). What a great surprise. He's done a nice job whenever we do get him an opportunity."
Kris Bryant gave Chicago a 2-1 lead by driving in Dexter Fowler with a sacrifice fly to center in the seventh off Cardinals starter John Lackey, who gave up two runs on eight hits in seven innings. Fowler started the inning with a double.
"It was a tough one, they put some good at-bats on me," Lackey said. "A lot of deep counts and I had to throw a lot of pitches. But for the most part, I was able to do some good damage control."
Chicago starter Jake Arrieta allowed just one run on three hits over seven innings.
"I got into a groove and was able to hold them off," Arrieta said. "But they did what they do, they fought back. This was a tough one. We were right there."
Randal Grichuk gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead with a run-scoring triple in the second.
Chicago, which had scored just three runs over its previous three games, tied the game in the fourth on an RBI single by Baxter, who had three hits and helped Arrieta with a leap into the stands to snare a flyball by Peralta leading off the sixth.
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The Cardinals are 27-18 against the Cubs over the last two-plus seasons.
"This one stings," Chicago first baseman Anthony Rizzo said. "You can't give away a lead there."
TRAINER'S ROOM
Cubs: Bryant returned to the starting lineup after being taken out of Thursday's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers with flu-like symptoms after the second inning. Fowler also returned after missing three games with a sore ankle suffered running the bases on Monday.
UP NEXT: Chicago RHP Donn Roach will make his first start of the season against RHP Michael Wacha (9-3, 2.85). Roach is replacing Tsuyoshi Wada, who suffered shoulder tightness in his previous start Monday. Roach was 7-1 with a 2.29 ERA for the Triple A Iowa Cubs. Wacha began the season 7-0.
