Justin Steele, Cubs cruise past Cards for 6th straight win

Justin Steele earned his fourth victory over Cardinals this season as the visiting Chicago Cubs routed St. Louis 10-3 Thursday to extend their winning streak to six games.

Steele (11-3) allowed one run on five hits and three walks in six innings. He struck out four.

Yan Gomes drove in three runs, while Mike Tauchman had a homer, two singles and two RBIs for the Cubs. Christopher Morel went 3-for-4 with three runs and two RBIs, and Cody Bellinger finished 3-for-5.

Andrew Knizner hit two homers and drove in three runs for the Cardinals, who have lost five of their past seven games.

Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas (6-6) and starting catcher Willson Contreras didn't survive the first inning.

With two outs, Cubs outfielder Ian Happ hit Contreras in the head with an errant backswing. After Contreras exited with a scalp laceration, Mikolas threw one pitch up and in to Happ, then hit him on the hip with his next pitch.

The umpires convened and ejected Mikolas, then banished Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol for persisting in his protest.

The game unraveled for the Cardinals when Dakota Hudson replaced Mikolas.

Bellinger's single was followed by walks to Seiya Suzuki and Dansby Swanson, with the latter forcing in a run. Morel's ground-rule double put the Cubs up 3-0.

The Cubs pushed their lead to 5-0 in the third inning. After Swanson and Morel reached on two-out singles, Gomes and Miles Mastrobuoni followed with RBI singles.

Chicago made it 6-0 in the fourth inning. Hoerner hit a double, took third on Bellinger's single and scored on Suzuki's forceout grounder.

Knizner led off the bottom of the fourth with a homer to put the Cardinals on the board.

Tauchman hit a home run to make it 7-1 in the sixth inning. The Cubs extended their lead to 9-1 in the seventh on Gomes' two-run double.

Knizner socked a two-run homer in the eighth inning to cut the deficit to 9-3. Tauchman made it 10-3 in the ninth with a run-scoring infield single.