St. Louis 5, Chi. Cubs 1

Cardinals 5, Cubs 1: David Freese homered and drove in three and Lance Lynn pitched a career-high eight innings as visiting St. Louis avoided a sweep at rival Chicago.

Carlos Beltran drove in a run, scored a pair and stole two bases for the Cardinals, who had blown ninth-inning leads in each of the first two games to snap an 11-series winning streak dating back to last season.

Lynn (4-0) threw 110 pitches, yielding one run on six hits while walking two and striking out seven. The 24-year old right-hander has allowed only one run in each of his first four starts this season, leaving his ERA at 1.33.

St. Louis got to Chris Volstad (0-3) for a run in the third on Matt Carpenter’s RBI single and broke it open in the sixth. Beltran drove in Rafael Furcal with a two-out double and Freese followed by taking a 2-2 sinker off the inside part of the plate into the left field seats for his fourth home run.

Volstad was lifted after the sixth inning, having allowed four runs on six hits.

Freese reached Shawn Camp for an RBI double in the eighth to provide some insurance.

Bryan LaHair, who snapped a nine-game homerless drought for the Cubs with his ninth-inning blast on Tuesday, hit a solo homer on Wednesday.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The game started 20 minutes late due to rain and was played under gloomy conditions at Wrigley Field. … Cardinals center fielder Shane Robinson, filling in for an injured Jon Jay, recorded his second career three-hit game. … After having his 11-game hitting streak snapped on Tuesday, Cubs SS Starlin Castro began another streak with a 1-for-4 afternoon.

• Chi. Cubs will play their next game on the road against Philadelphia. The Cubs have a W/L % of .286 after a win and .333 after a loss.
• St. Louis will play their next game at home against Milwaukee. The Cardinals have a W/L % of .545 after a win and .750 after a loss.