Cards club 4 homers, pummel first-place Cubs

Lars Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan, Alec Burleson and Nolan Gorman hit two-run homers as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the visiting Chicago Cubs 8-2 Monday evening.
Willson Contreras went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a run scored for the Cardinals, who won for the sixth time in their last seven games to move with 3 1/2 games of the National League Central-leading Cubs.
St. Louis starting pitcher Matthew Liberatore (5-6) allowed two runs on six hits in seven innings. He struck out five and walked one.
Pete Crow-Armstrong went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and Carson Kelly went 2-for-3 with an RBI for the Cubs, who lost for the fourth time in their last five games.
Losing pitcher Ben Brown (4-6) allowed eight runs on nine hits and two walks with three strikeouts in five-plus innings.
Liberatore retired 12 of the first 13 batters he faced with Kelly’s second-inning single the lone blemish.
The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning. Contreras hit a two-out double and Nootbaar followed with his homer.
The Cubs cut their deficit to 2-1 in the fifth inning. Crow-Armstrong led off with a double and scored on Kelly’s single. After Nico Hoerner hit a single, the runners advanced on a groundout.
Matt Shaw walked to load the bases, but Liberatore prevented further trouble by getting Ian Happ to ground into an inning-ending double play.
St. Louis increased its lead to 6-1 in the fifth inning. Pedro Pages walked with one out and Donovan hit his homer with two outs.
After Masyn Winn walked, Burleson launched his homer. Contreras extended the inning with a single before Brown coaxed Nootbaar’s inning-ending groundout.
Nolan Arenado led off the sixth inning with a single and Gorman followed with his homer to make it 8-1 and chase Brown.
The Cubs cut their deficit to 8-2 in the seventh inning. Crow-Armstrong double to lead off the inning, moved to third on Hoerner’s one-out single and scored on Justin Turner’s sacrifice fly.