Wainwright wins 20th as Cards blank Cubs

Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Adam Wainwright pitched seven strong innings and the St. Louis Cardinals thumped the Chicago Cubs, 8-0, in the opener of a three-game set on Monday.

Wainwright (20-9) won his fifth straight start to join Clayton Kershaw in the 20-win column this season. He allowed three hits and a walk while striking out eight.

"It's a notch on the belt for sure," Wainwright said.

The win allowed St. Louis to stay 2 1/2 games up on Pittsburgh for first place in the NL Central. Pittsburgh defeated Atlanta on Monday.

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 (8-13) gave up seven runs -- six earned -- on eight hits with a pair of walks and eight strikeouts over five innings for the Cubs, who have lost four of five.

St. Louis took charge of the game in the fourth inning. Randal Grichuk and Matt Holliday singled to start the frame and Jhonny Peralta drove in the first run with a double. Yadier Molina followed with an RBI single and Jay brought home two more with a base hit for a 4-0 lead.

In the fifth, Matt Carpenter led off with a walk, moved to second on a flyout and scored on a Holliday single. Peralta then walked and both runners moved up a bag on a Molina groundout before Adams punched a single to center to knock in both for a 7-0 lead.

Wainwright got into a bit of a jam in the seventh, when back-to-back two-out singles from Luis Valbuena and Welington Castillo put a man in scoring position. Wainwright, though, got Arismendy Alcantara to ground out and end the frame.

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

Jay singled home another run in the eighth for an 8-0 lead.

Game Notes

St. Louis has won 10 of the 17 games with the Chicago this season ... Wainwright went 3-1 in five starts against the Cubs this season ... Wood went 2-1 in five starts against the Cardinals this season.