Cards ace wins 20th, tops Cubs

Wainright keeps club 2 1/2 ahead

CHICAGO -- Mike Matheny looked at Adam Wainwright's run over the past five years and summed it up with one word.

"Wow," he said.

Wainwright joined Clayton Kershaw as the majors' second 20-game winner, pitching three-hit ball over seven innings, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 8-0 on Monday night.

"I hope he realizes how special that is," Matheny said. "He's in a very elite group."

Wainwright (20-9) is a two-time 20-game winner. He went 20-11 in 2010.

Wainright's victory moved the Cardinals a step closer toward their second consecutive division title.

They remained 2 1/2 games ahead of Pittsburgh in the NL Central with five games to play with the Pirates beating Atlanta 1-0. Any combination of St. Louis victories and Pittsburgh defeats totaling four will clinch the division for St. Louis.

The Cardinals clinched its fourth consecutive playoff appearance on Sunday.

Wainwright has won 2o games twice, 19 games twice and 14 over the past five seasons.

"It's a tremendous honor, obviously," Wainwright said about winning 20. "But more important, it's a big win for our team."

Wainwright won his fifth consecutive start and made it look easy, striking out eight and walking one.

He gave up a double to Anthony Rizzo with two out in the first and did not allow another hit until back-to-back singles by Luis Valbuena and Welington Castillo with two out in the seventh.

Wainwright won his 20th at Wrigley Field, following Kershaw, who won his 10th at Wrigley Field last Friday.

Wainright capped his first 20-victory season in 2010 by winning No. 20 at Wrigley Field.

The Cardinals jumped on Bryant's Travis Wood (8-13) for 7 runs and 8 hits over 5 innings.

The Cardinals scored 4 in the fourth and 3 in the fifth on the way to their eighth win in 10 games.

Matt Holliday had two hits and scored two runs. He also drove in one.

Matt Adams contributed two hits and two RBI. Jon Jay added 2 hits and drove in 3, capping a 4-run fourth with a 2-run single to make it 4-0.

Holliday also had a run-scoring double to left and Yadier Molina singled in a run in that inning, and the Cardinals broke it open in the fifth.

Matt Carpenter led off that inning with a walk and was ruled safe at second tagging on Randal Grichuk's fly to center following a replay review. He scored on Holliday's bloop single to right, and Adams capped the rally with a two-run single to make it 7-0.

Wood said he felt sharp overall but still couldn't avoid the big innings. That's something he will try to fix in the offseason.

"Wasn't a good year for me overall," said Wood, owner of a 5.03 ERA after making the NL All-Star team last season. "With that being said, it showed me a lot of the stuff that I need to take into the offseason to work on because you learn a lot more about yourself as a pitcher when things aren't going good as opposed to when things are."

Sports on 09/23/2014

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