CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs took advantage of a St. Louis Cardinals error for a go-ahead run as they scored three times in the seventh inning en route to a 5-3 victory on Tuesday night.
The Cubs also beat the Cardinals 7-4 earlier in the day for a sweep of the day-night doubleheader.
With the Cubs trailing 2-1 entering the seventh inning of the second game, second baseman Addison Russell’s one-out single to right drove in catcher Miguel Montero to tie the game and left pinch hitter Jonathan Herrera at third.
The key play came when center fielder Dexter Fowler bounced a grounder to Cardinals left-handed relief pitcher Kevin Siegrist, who threw the ball into center field while trying to initiate a double play.
Herrera scored the go-ahead run while Russell reached third.
First baseman Anthony Rizzo’s sacrifice to center then scored Russell for the 4-2 lead.
Shortstop Starlin Castro’s sacrifice fly in the eighth drove in right fielder Jorge Soler to extend the lead to 5-2.
The Cardinals scored once in the ninth off right-handed reliever Jason Motte as pinch hitter Tony Cruz singled home left fielder Randal Grichuk with one out to make it 5-3. But Motte then closed down the Cardinals to earn his fifth save.
Cubs left-right hander Travis Wood (5-3) worked one inning in relief for the victory. Cardinals left-right hander Seth Maness (3-1) pitched one inning and was ejected for arguing balls and strikes. He took the loss.
The Cardinals erased a 1-0 Cubs lead in the sixth. Right-handed starter Dallas Beeler departed with none out after giving up a walk to third baseman Matt Carpenter and a single to shortstop Jhonny Peralta.
Carpenter, who advanced to third on the hit, tied the game when right fielder Jason Heyward grounded into a fielder’s choice off left-handed reliever James Russell.
Russell promptly departed and right-hander Justin Grimm gave up an infield single to first baseman Mark Reynolds with two outs, allowing Heyward to score from third for a 2-1 St. Louis lead.
Beeler was credited with allowing two runs, while he gave up four hits, struck out six and walked two in five full innings.
Cardinals starter Tim Cooney worked 5 1/3 innings, allowing one run on three hits while striking out three and walking one.
Beeler tried to help his cause with a third-inning lead-off double to the center-field wall on Cooney’s first pitch. It was his first career two-base hit and the Cubs’ first hit of the game.
But Beeler was tagged out while sliding into third on a subsequent fielder’s choice grounder by Fowler.
Beeler worked out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the Cardinals’ fourth inning. He struck out Reynolds and got first baseman Xavier Scruggs to ground to third on a fielder’s choice and escaped unscathed.
The Cubs broke a scoreless tie in the fifth when Castro lined a leadoff double to the left-field wall and scored on catcher Taylor Teagarden’s single to shallow right.
It was the first hit as a Cub for Teagarden, who was called up earlier this week from Triple-A Iowa.
In Tuesday’s early game, Rizzo went 2-for-3 with his team-leading 16th home run to help lead the Cubs to a 7-4 victory.
Fowler, left fielder Chris Denorfia and even starting pitcher Jake Arrieta had two hits apiece. Arrieta (9-5) won for the fifth time in his past seven starts, allowing two runs on seven hits, striking out four and walking two.
NOTES: Cardinals 2B Kolten Wong left Tuesday’s first game in the seventh inning with a head contusion and sat out the start of the second game. … The Game 1 loss left St. Louis 7-8 in the opening game of doubleheaders since 2000. … The Cardinals send RHP Michael Wacha (10-3, 2.66 ERA) against Cubs RHP Jason Hammel (5-4, 2.89 ERA) in Wednesday’s series finale. The teams won’t meet again until Sept. 7-9 at Wrigley Field. … Cubs OF Chris Coghlan didn’t start in Tuesday’s first game but still extended his consecutive appearance streak to 146 games — the longest active streak in the majors — with a pinch-hit appearance. … Tuesday’s first game was a makeup from an April 7 rainout. The Cubs still have scheduled makeups against the Reds (July 22) and Royals (Sept. 28). … After facing just four left-handed pitchers in the previous 46 games, the Cubs met a pair Tuesday (Tyler Lyons in the opener and Tim Cooney in the nightcap). They potentially could face three more before next week’s All-Star break.