8      4   Final

Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E  Cubs 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 4 7 0  Cardinals 2 0 1 2 0 3 0 0 X 8 13 1

Mark Bellhorn gets the out at second on a sliding Kerry Robinson but is late with the throw to first on Friday. (Leon Algee/AP) BOXSCORE St Louis Cardinals 8, Chicago Cubs 4 Chicago Cubs Batter Pos AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Bellhorn 2B 4 2 2 1 0 1 1 .284 Stynes 3B 4 1 1 2 0 1 1 .228 Sosa RF 4 0 2 0 0 1 0 .295 McGriff 1B 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .266 Alou LF 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .236 Lewis CF 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 .234 Gordon P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Gonzalez SS 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .230 Mahoney C 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 .250 Lieber P 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 .146 Brown CF 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .195 Totals 32 4 7 3 0 10 7 BATTING 2B: Mahoney (1, Finley). HR: Bellhorn (15, 1st inning off Finley, 0 on, 0 out), Stynes (5, 6th inning off Finley, 1 on, 2 out). RBI: Bellhorn (33), Stynes 2 (18). 2-out RBI: Stynes 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Alou. GIDP: McGriff, Gonzalez. Team LOB: 1. FIELDING DP: (Bellhorn-Gonzalez-McGriff). St Louis Cardinals Batter Pos AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Robinson LF 5 0 3 1 0 0 1 .276 Hackman P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Kline P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Polanco 2B-3B 4 1 0 0 0 1 3 .284 Edmonds CF 3 1 1 2 1 1 0 .319 Pujols 3B-LF 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 .293 Drew RF 3 0 0 0 1 1 3 .265 Martinez 1B 4 2 3 1 0 1 0 .252 Renteria SS 4 2 2 0 0 0 2 .309 Matheny C 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 .219 Finley P 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .250 a-Perez PH 1 1 1 3 0 0 0 .217 Veres P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 b-Cairo PH-2B 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .231 Totals 32 8 13 8 2 5 9 a-Homered for Finley in the 6th. b-Flied out for Veres in the 8th. BATTING 3B: Robinson (4, Gordon). HR: Edmonds (21, 1st inning off Lieber, 1 on, 1 out), Martinez (12, 4th inning off Lieber, 0 on, 0 out), Perez (7, 6th inning off Lieber, 2 on, 1 out). RBI: Edmonds 2 (55), Pujols (76), Martinez (49), Robinson (8), Perez 3 (17). S: Polanco, Finley, Matheny. SF: Pujols. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Drew 2, Polanco 2, Renteria. GIDP: Drew. Team LOB: 6. FIELDING E: Cairo (4, throw). PB: Matheny (1). DP: 2 (Pujols-Polanco-Martinez, Polanco-Renteria-Martinez). Chicago Cubs Pitcher IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Lieber (L, 6-8) 6.0 11 8 8 1 3 3 3.76 Gordon 2.0 2 0 0 1 2 0 2.53 St Louis Cardinals Pitcher IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Finley (W, 6-11) 6.0 5 3 3 0 7 2 4.45 Veres 2.0 0 0 0 0 3 0 3.99 Hackman 0.1 2 1 0 0 0 0 3.98 Kline 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.00 IBB: Edmonds (by Lieber). Pitches-strikes: Lieber 81-56, Gordon 33-21, Finley 69-46, Veres 32-20, Hackman 17-10, Kline 5-4. Ground outs-fly outs: Lieber 13-2, Gordon 2-2, Finley 9-2, Veres 1-2, Hackman 0-1, Kline 0-2. Batters faced: Lieber 29, Gordon 9, Finley 21, Veres 6, Hackman 3, Kline 2. Umpires: HP: Gerry Davis. 1B: Dan Iassogna. 2B: Greg Gibson. 3B: Mike Winters. Weather: 95 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 9 mph, R to L. T: 2:21. Att: 48,730.

ST. LOUIS -- The Cardinals defeated the Cubs, 8-4, on Friday at Busch Stadium as Chuck Finley won his first start in St. Louis and Jon Lieber had his roughest outing of the season.

Finley pitched six innings and allowed three runs on five hits and no walks while striking out seven. It was Finley's second win in as many starts as a Cardinal.

Lieber (6-8) allowed a season-high eight runs on 11 hits in six innings. Lieber also allowed three homers for the first time this season and is winless in his past six starts.

Mark Bellhorn got the Cubs off to a promising start when he led off the game with a homer to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead. Belhorn's homer came on a 3-2 pitch and was the fourth time the Cubs had gotten a homer in their first at-bat this season.

The lead didn't last long, however, as Jim Edmonds gave the Cardinals a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning with some help from Chicago's defense.

After Kerry Robinson led off the inning with a single, Placido Polanco hit a potential double-play grounder to third. Robinson was forced out at second, but Bellhorn's throw to first was low and got past first baseman Fred McGriff, allowing Polanco to reach safely. Edmonds then homered into the first row of the right-field bleachers to give the Cardinals the lead they would never surrender.

The Cardinals added a run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Albert Pujols and two in the fifth on an opposite-field homer by Tino Martinez and an RBI groundout by Robinson to make it 4-1.

After allowing a first-inning single to Sammy Sosa, Finley retired the next 11 batters before Darren Lewis singled in the sixth with one out and was then erased on a double play.

Chris Stynes pulled the Cubs to within 5-3 in the sixth when he hit a two-run, two-out homer to left field. However, the Cardinals got those two run back -- plus one more -- in the bottom of the inning. Martinez and Edgar Renteria led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Renteria's hit was the 1,000th of his career.

The Cardinals decided to use Eduardo Perez as a pinch-hitter for Finley, and Perez deposited a 1-2 pitch from Lieber 412 feet onto the grassy area behind the center field wall to give the Cardinals an 8-3 lead. It was Perez's seventh homer of the season and his second as a pinch-hitter.

After Stynes' homer in the sixth, the Cubs didn't have another batter reach base until Bellhorn led off the ninth with a bloop single and later scored on a single and throwing error by second baseman Miguel Cairo.

The Cardinals (57-43) have won five of their past six games and moved a season-high 14 games over .500. They also extended their lead in the NL Central to a season-high five games over the Reds. The Cubs (43-58) have lost their past five games and are winless in four games at Busch Stadium this season.

Jared Hoffman is an editorial producer for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.