ST. LOUIS (AP) - Michael Wacha pitched six solid innings, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 8-1 on Saturday night to become the first major league team with 50 wins.
Jason Heyward reached four times in St. Louis' fifth straight victory. The major league-best Cardinals (50-24) have five winning streaks of five games or more this season.
Wacha (10-3) allowed one run and six hits, bouncing back from a rough start at Philadelphia. The right-hander was tagged for five runs and eight hits against the Phillies in his worst start of the season last Sunday.
Chicago has lost four in a row after a four-game winning streak.
Cubs right-hander Don Roach (0-1) lasted just 3 1/3 innings in his major league appearance of the year. He was charged with four runs and eight hits while subbing for Tsuyoshi Wada, who has a sore elbow.
St. Louis improved to a major league-best 28-7 at home with their eighth consecutive win at Busch Stadium.
The Cardinals scored four runs in the fourth and fifth. Heyward singled and scored on Yadier Molina's double in the fourth, and walked and scored on Randal Grichuk's double in the fifth.
Kolten Wong, Matt Carpenter and Xavier Scruggs each drove in two runs as St. Louis reached the 50-win mark before July for the first time in franchise history. Scruggs, who had three hits, gave the Cardinals the lead for good with a run-scoring single in the fourth. Carpenter capped the inning with a two-run single.
Wong's two-run double was the key blow in the fifth inning.
Roach drove in Starlin Castro with an RBI single in the second. Castro has hit safely in his last 12 games against St. Louis.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Cubs: OF Jorge Soler, who has been out since June 3 with a left ankle sprain, will likely start a minor league rehabilitation assignment early next week. Soler is on the 15-day disabled list.
Cardinals: LHP Jaime Garcia, who suffered a groin cramp running the bases in his last start, will not take his scheduled turn on Tuesday. He skipped a bullpen session Saturday and could return to the rotation as early as Wednesday. RHP Lance Lynn (5-4, 2.84 ERA) will start Tuesday.
UP NEXT
Cardinals RHP Carlos Martinez (8-3, 2.89 ERA) faces RHP Jason Hammel (5-2, 2.65 ERA) in the finale of the three-game series on Sunday night. Hammel has eight quality starts in his last 11 outings. The Cardinals are 11-3 in games started by Martinez this season.
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