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St. Louis has brooms ready for Cubs

(SportsNetwork.com) - The 50-win St. Louis Cardinals have the brooms ready for the NL Central-rival Chicago Cubs Sunday night at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals pushed their record to 50-24 with Saturday's 8-1 victory, as Kolten Wong, Matt Carpenter and Xavier Scruggs each knocked in two runs.

Scruggs had three hits for the MLB-leading Cardinals, who have won five in a row and improved to 28-7 at home. They won the first game of this series 3-2 on Friday in 10 innings.

"It means a lot, just to be able to contribute," said Scruggs. "The team is already rolling, so for me to come in and help add a little something to the team is big."

Cardinals right-hander Michael Wacha picked up Saturday's win in six innings, allowing just one run on six hits and two walks while striking out five.

Carlos Martinez draws the start for the Cardinals in Sunday's nightcap and is 5-1 in his last seven starts. The Cardinals are 6-1 in that time and posted a 4-3 win at Miami on Tuesday in Martinez's last start. He gave up three runs in seven innings and struck out nine batters.

Martinez improved to 8-3 with a 2.89 ERA in 15 games (14 starts) and has faced the Cubs 11 times (1 start) in his career, posting no record and a 6.43 ERA across 14 innings pitched.

The Cubs have lost four in a row after winning four straight.

Chicago's Donn Roach went just 3 1/3 innings after being called up from Triple-A Iowa to make his second career major league start. The right-hander, whose first start came more than 13 months ago, was charged with four runs on eight hits and a walk but also contributed an RBI single.

"We just have to do better," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.

Starlin Castro and Chris Coghlan had two hits in defeat.

Jason Hammel hopes to come out on the winning side of things when he takes the mound for the Cubs Sunday night. Hammel has posted a no-decision in each of his last three outings, including a 1-0 win over Los Angeles on Tuesday in which he fired 7 2/3 shutout innings and allowed two hits.

Hammel hasn't won since throwing eight innings of two-run ball in a 4-2 win at Washington on June 6. The right-hander, who has a 4-2 mark in eight road starts, is 1-2 with a 6.10 ERA in four career starts against St. Louis.

St. Louis has won six of the eight head-to-head meetings with the Cubs this season.

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