Cardinals hope rout of Cubs launches second-half surge

CHICAGO -- If the St. Louis Cardinals were looking for a way to free some of the frustrations of an up and down season, putting up 18 runs and getting the best of one of the National League's top pitchers was certainly a step in the right direction.

Now the Cardinals will try to build off that in a doubleheader Saturday against the rival Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Matt Carpenter led the hit parade in Friday's 18-5 thumping of the Cubs, going 5-for-5 with seven RBIs in a leadoff spot that Cardinals interim manager Mike Shildt left him in while tinkering with the rest of his lineup.

Carpenter homered three times, doubled twice and scored four runs as the Cardinals took the second game of the weekend five-game set and improved to 6-4 this season against the Cubs. The offensive awakening, which included 18 hits while handling Cubs starter Jon Lester just his third loss of the year, may have been just what the Cardinals needed to kick-start the second half of the season.

Carpenter played a major role.

"A day to remember, for sure," Carpenter told reporters, according to the team's official website. "I'm having a hard time coming up with words to describe a day like this."

Luke Weaver (5-8, 4.72 ERA) will pitch the first game of Saturday's doubleheader for the Cardinals, coming off back-to-back starts in which he has struck out seven hitters. He has struggled in his four career starts against the Cubs, against whom he is 0-2 with 12.00 ERA.

John Gant (3-3, 3.49) will pitch the nightcap for St. Louis. He picked up a victory in a non-starting role in his most recent outing when he didn't allow a hit and struck out four in four innings against the Cincinnati Reds. Gant is 0-1 in his lone career start against the Cubs.

Chicago will flush Friday's loss, which snapped a four-game winning streak that extended back to a three-game sweep of the San Diego Padres before the All-Star break.

Lester lost for the first time since May 23 and Carpenter and the Cardinals kept hitting Cubs pitching, which included appearances by position players Tommy La Stella, Victor Caratini and Ian Happ by the time it was all said and done.

"There are tough losses and (others) that don't stick so much," Cubs manager Joe Maddon told reporters, according to the Chicago Tribune. "This one doesn't stick."

On Saturday, Tyler Chatwood will pitch the opener before Mike Montgomery, who has entered the Cubs' starting rotation since Yu Darvish has been sidelined with injury, takes the mound for the second game of the doubleheader.

Chatwood (3-5, 5.04) has struggled with consistency throughout the first half of the season. He told reporters that he planned to use the All-Star break to decompress from a season in which he has never been able to establish any sort of rhythm.

He hopes for better things moving forward, beginning with Saturday's start.

"I haven't been good," Chatwood said in San Diego before the break, according to the Chicago Tribune. "There have been spots where I've been good, but I haven't been very consistent like I can be and I have been."

Chatwood is 0-3 with a 6.41 ERA in six career starts against St. Louis.

Meanwhile, Montgomery (3-3, 3.91 ERA) will try to turn things around after picking up one victory in his previous six starts. He is 1-1 in nine career appearances against the Cardinals, but will face St. Louis as a starter for the first time on Saturday.