Brandon Moss, Jhonny Peralta Lead Cardinals Past Cubs 3-2

Brandon Moss and Jhonny Peralta homered, and Trevor Rosenthal pitched a scoreless ninth inning to lift the St. Louis Cardinals to a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Monday night.

Brandon Moss, Jhonny Peralta Lead Cardinals Past Cubs 3-2

The Cardinals’ win comes after five straight losses, all of which came at home.

“For us to have a lead late in the game and to not be able to pull it out after a couple like that already would be …” manager Mike Matheny said in his office before pausing after the game. “Would be progressively harder to swallow. We had so many wide-margin games up to this point you had to figure we’re going to have a bunch of these (close ones) in a row. We need them to be sharp.”

Rosenthal struck out the first batter he faced on Monday, allowed a double to second, then hit a pinch-hitter to put the winning run on first. Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina saved him by cutting down rookie Albert Almora Jr. attempting to steal third base with one out in the ninth. Replays showed the ball bounced off umpire Pat Hoberg’s foot before Molina grabbed it and threw to third for the out.

“I think we got lucky there,” Rosenthal said. “Looking back at it, the umpire helped us out, but the other part about [Molina’s] game is his arm. He’s got an amazing arm. He always makes accurate throws, and when I saw that, I thought we had a good chance for him to throw [Almora] out there at third.”

In his previous two appearances, the right-handed closer had allowed far more hits (five), base-runners (seven) and runs (four) than outs he collected (one). Rosenthal’s ERA increased from 3.32 to 4.91 in the span of 26 pitches.

Moss opened scoring in the top of the 2nd with a long solo home run to right field– his 16th of the season– off right-hander John Lackey, who took the loss in his third meeting this season against the Cardinals, his former team.

Peralta then blasted Lackey’s first pitch of the third into the left-field bleachers for his second home run to give St. Louis a 3-0 lead. Lackey scattered seven hits, including the two homers, over six innings.

Cardinals left-hander Jaime Garcia, meanwhile, struck out six over 6 2/3 innings. The Cubs still lead the Cardinals by 11 1/2 games in the National League Central standings.

Cubs catcher Willson Contreras made his first Major League start after hitting a home-run in his first career at-bat on Sunday in a 10-5 home win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Ben Zobrist, subbing as the Cubs’ leadoff man with Dexter Fowler injured, singled to lead off the third and scored one out later on Kris Bryant’s double. Bryant moved up on a wild pitch, then tallied on Contreras’ single.

St. Louis held onto its 3-2 lead in the sixth on a nice catch from right fielder Stephen Piscotty. Javier Baez took off running as Garcia’s pitch was on its way. Almora lofted a sinking fly ball that would have landed fair inside the foul line, but Piscotty raced over and made a sliding grab to end the inning.

Right-hander Jason Hammel will start for the Cubs in the second game of their three-game home series against the Cardinals on Tuesday night. He ranks ninth in the big leagues with a 2.26 ERA.

Right-hander Adam Wainwright will take the mound for the Cardinals. Wainwright (9-1, 3.33 ERA) hasn’t allowed a run in his past 12 innings and is 2-1 with a 2.50 ERA in his last six starts.

PHOTO: CHICAGO, IL – JUNE 20: Jhonny Peralta #27 of the St. Louis Cardinals is congratulated by Brandon Moss #37 after hitting a solo home run against the Chicago Cubs during the third inning at Wrigley Field on June 20, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jon Durr/Getty Images)