Duncan leads Cards to 7-4 victory over Cubs

[April 17, 2009]  CHICAGO (AP) -- Chris Duncan atoned for some shoddy defense with a homer and three RBIs, and Yadier Molina drove in the go-ahead run that sent the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday.

The Cardinals have won seven of their last eight and, perhaps more importantly, took the first of what will be 16 games against their longtime rivals.

Milton Bradley, who'd been on his best behavior since signing a $30 million contract with the Cubs, argued a called third strike as a pinch-hitter with the bases loaded in the sixth inning and was ejected by umpire Larry Vanover.

Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright then escaped the jam by getting Alfonso Soriano to fly out, leaving the score tied at 4.

Pinch-hitter Joe Thurston opened the seventh by drawing a walk off of Cubs reliever David Patton (0-1) and advanced on a groundout. After Patton walked Albert Pujols intentionally and got Ryan Ludwick to pop out, Molina lined a run-scoring single to right and Duncan followed with an RBI single off of Neal Cotts.

Ryan Franklin worked a perfect ninth for his second save.

Wainwright (2-0) labored through six innings, allowing four runs on six hits and four walks while throwing 106 pitches.

Duncan's two-run homer in the fourth gave the Cardinals a 3-1 lead -- and made up for his infamously feeble fielding. Duncan dropped a routine fly to get Wainwright in trouble in the sixth and failed to catch a popup that led to the Cubs' first-inning run.

Still, the Cardinals are glad to have him back in the lineup after missing the second half of last season with a degenerative disk in his neck. A unique surgery, in which the bad disk was replaced by a titanium one, made it a relatively quick recovery possible.

Duncan is batting .389 with 10 RBIs so far this season.

The Cubs went ahead 4-3 on Kosuke Fukudome's three-run homer in the fifth, his third home run for a team-leading eight RBIs. Fukudome got off to a similar fast start last year, becoming a Wrigley Field hero in April before batting .231 after May 4.

In the top of the sixth, Kahlil Greene's first homer since joining the Cardinals in an offseason deal with San Diego made it a 4-4 game.

Notes: Bradley didn't start for a third straight game due to a groin injury and Cubs manager Lou Piniella said it could be five days before Bradley is ready to return to right field. Micah Hoffpauir got his first start in place of Bradley and went 0-for-4. ... Ludwick's RBI infield single in the first extended his hitting streak to 19 games dating to last season.

[Associated Press]

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