Cards close in on NL Central crown at Wrigley

(SportsNetwork.com) - The St. Louis Cardinals look to move one step closer -- or maybe two -- to a National League Central crown on Tuesday night as they continue a three-game series with the Chicago Cubs.

The Cardinals have ripped off a victory in eight of their last 10 and lead the Pittsburgh Pirates by 2 1/2 games for the top spot in the division. St. Louis has needed every game of this run as Pittsburgh has won 10 of its last 12 to keep pace.

The Pirates and Cardinals both won on Monday, but St. Louis' 8-0 victory over Chicago in the opener lowered its magic number to claim the division to four.

Adam Wainwright hit the 20-win mark for the second time in his career last night, hurling seven scoreless innings of three-hit ball. He walked one and struck out eight to tie Los Angeles Dodgers hurler Clayton Kershaw for the major league lead in victories.

"It's a notch on the belt for sure," Wainwright said. "(It's a) tremendous honor obviously, but more importantly it's a big win for our team. Pittsburgh is playing such good baseball right now that we've just got to take every game so serious."

Jon Jay had two hits and drove in three runs, while Matt Adams went 2-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored in the win.

Travis Wood gave up seven runs -- six earned -- on eight hits with a pair of walks and eight strikeouts over five innings for the Cubs.

Chicago was held to just four hits in its fourth loss in five games.

"He's one of the best," Cubs manager Rick Renteria said of Wainwright. "He had his curveball working very, very well today."

St. Louis now turns to another streaking hurler in Shelby Miller, who has given up just two earned runs over his past four starts. He is 2-0 in that span and the Cardinals have won all four games.

Miller did not get a decision in his club's 3-2 win over Milwaukee on Thursday, with the right-hander giving up two runs -- one earned -- on five hits and zero walks over six innings.

The 23-year-old is 10-9 on the season with a 3.68 earned run average and 1-0 lifetime versus the Cubs with a 1.96 ERA in four games (3 starts). That includes a no-decision on Aug. 29 as he gave up two runs over seven innings, though the Cardinals lost 7-2.

The Cubs go with 23-year-old Kyle Hendricks, who has put together an impressive start to his MLB career. He is 7-2 with a 2.28 ERA in 12 starts.

Hendricks rebounded from his second career loss to beat Cincinnati on Wednesday, holding the Reds to a run on seven hits over seven innings.

"I came in just trying to learn and see what big league hitters and big league baseball overall is all about," Hendricks said. "I definitely learned a ton the second half of the year and was able to have success too."

The righty is 0-1 with a 2.19 ERA in two meetings with the Cardinals, allowing three runs and 12 hits over 12 1/3 innings.

The Cardinals are 10-7 against the Cubs this season.