Cards top Cubs

Paul Goldschmidt hit a three-run home run off a struggling Jon Lester, and the St. Louis Cardinals gained ground in the NL Central race by beating the Chicago Cubs 7-3 on Sunday night.

CHICAGO — Paul Goldschmidt hit a three-run home run off a struggling Jon Lester, and the St. Louis Cardinals gained ground in the NL Central race by beating the Chicago Cubs 7-3 on Sunday night.

St. Louis pulled within 1 1/2 games of Chicago with its third consecutive win over the division leaders, sweeping a doubleheader on Saturday after the Cubs won 4-1 in the series opener Friday night. The longtime rivals have one game left in their pandemic-shortened season series today.

Tommy Edman also homered for the Cardinals, who improved to 14-0 when they score at least five runs this season. Dakota Hudson (2-2) worked five innings of three-run ball, shrugging off a shaky start.

Chicago dropped to 10-15 since its 13-3 start. Anthony Rizzo and Jason Kipnis homered for the Cubs, but Lester (2-2) lasted just 3 1/3 innings in another lackluster performance.

St. Louis went ahead to stay with four runs in the third. With one out and runners on first and second, Goldschmidt hit a massive drive to left that departed Wrigley Field and landed on Waveland Avenue for his fourth home run.

Tyler O’Neill singled with two out and scored on Rangel Ravelo’s double, giving the Cardinals a 5-3 lead.

Lester allowed 6 hits, struck out 4 and walked 2, extending his winless stretch to five starts. The 36-year- old left-hander is 0-1 with a 9.26 ERA during the slump, yielding 40 hits in 231/3 innings.

The Cardinals added two more in the seventh, taking a 7-3 lead on RBI singles by Kolten Wong and Paul DeJong. Wong is batting .393 (11 for 28) in his last seven games.