The streak is over for the St. Louis Cardinals

Cardinals see eight-game winning streak come to end

Well, that was fun while it lasted.

In front of a boisterous Busch Stadium crowd on Wednesday, the St. Louis Cardinals nearly staged another dramatic ninth-inning rally but fell short as the Chicago Cubs prevailed, 6-5, to win the third game of the four-game series and snap the Cardinals’ eight-game winning streak.

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It seemed like the Cubs had the upper hand through the whole game, even in the crucial eighth inning. The Cubs put one insurance run on the board in that inning and prevented the Cardinals from tying the score in the bottom of the frame.

The decision to place Peter Bourjos at the top of the lineup has paid huge dividends for the Cardinals. Bourjos definitely was a lightweight hitter when he came over from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim before last season, but his new surroundings and one year under his belt have paid off.

Bourjos had two hits to boost his batting average to .333, and Yadier Molina also came up with a pair of hits.

The Cardinals didn’t have an answer for first baseman Anthony Rizzo, whose third-inning home run gave the Cubs a 3-1 lead. After St. Louis scored in the fourth and cut its deficit to 3-2, the Cubs scored twice in the fifth only to see St. Louis tack on two in the sixth in a dramatic back-and-forth game.

It appears manager Mike Matheny wanted to rest some of his starters because of the day game on Thursday. Matt Adams and Kolten Wong both were out of the starting lineup, but Mark Reynolds failed to hit in four at-bats. Pete Kozma had slightly better luck with a hit and RBI in three trips to the plate.

Lance Lynn surrendered five earned runs and took the loss despite two walks and six strikeouts. Jon Lester struck out six and picked up the win for the Cubs.

The teams finish the series on Thursday at 1:45 p.m. in what promises to be a solid pitching matchup. Jake Arrieta (3-2, 2.84 ERA) hopes to recover from a bad outing in a loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. He will face Cardinal hurler John Lackey (1-1, 3.69), who held the Pittsburgh Pirates to just one run in an extra-inning victory over the weekend.