fourth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain will battle Barbora Zahlavova Stry

ST. Adidas Gazelle Ale . LOUIS -- When it comes to being a hitter, St. Louis rookie Michael Wacha would rather talk about his pitching. Wacha threw seven innings and drove in two runs with a single, helping the Cardinals to a 5-3 victory Thursday over the Chicago Cubs. The 6-foot-6 Wacha (3-3) had lost his last three decisions since an April 13 win over the Cubs. The 22-year-old right-hander allowed seven hits, including a homer, but did not walk a batter. He struck out five. "I was able to pound the strike zone down in the zone and it was pretty effective," Wacha said. "I kept them off-balance, which means its a pretty good day. Its definitely nice to go deep into a ballgame and get a win. It definitely gets your confidence going in the next start thats for sure." Trevor Rosenthal pitched 1 2-3 innings for his 11th save. Rosenthal, who blew a save Tuesday, inherited a one-out, bases-loaded situation and gave up a sacrifice fly, but closed out the inning and retired the side in the ninth. The Cubs have lost nine of their last 11 and are off to the worst start in 39 games (13-26) since 2002. Jason Hammel (4-2) gave up five runs on five hits and two walks in 5 1-3 innings, raising his ERA to 3.06. Hammel had six strikeouts. St. Louis scored four runs in the second inning on Wachas two-run single in between a run-scoring groundout by Yadier Molina and Matt Carpenters RBI double. It was Wachas first hit and RBIs of the season. "Its nice to finally have a batting average," Wacha said. St. Louis manager Mike Matheny noted it was a timely hit. "Mike was good and obviously getting that hit there to drive in a couple runs it was kind of a huge boost to us at that point," Matheny said. With two outs, Hammel might have escaped with little damage but he had to throw a strike on a 3-2 count to Wacha and the bases loaded. "I got behind Wacha with two wild ones," Hammel said. "I came in with a fastball and he hit it." Chicago got two runs back in the fourth on a home run just inside the left-field foul pole by Starlin Castro. He drove in No. 3 hitter Anthony Rizzo, who beat the St. Louis shift to the right side with his second bunt to the left side in two at-bats. Rizzo has three career bunt singles with the Cubs with one coming in his previous 285 games. "If theyre going to give me that, I might as well take it," Rizzo said. "We were able to cash in once. I almost make them pay twice for it. Wacha is a great pitcher but you get him on the stretch and try to get him off his game a little bit. "You know if teams are going to give me that, for the most part, Im going to take it every time." When Rizzo came to bat in the fifth and seventh, St. Louis did not shift. "Rizzo took advantage of the shift until they changed their defence on him," Chicago manager Rick Renteria said. "That led to our first two runs when Starlin drove the ball out of the ballpark. Hes really looking at the game from a lot of different angles. Think about it, youre down four runs and a solo home run is not going to do a whole lot for you." The Cardinals made it 5-2 when Molina lined a 3-2 pitch just inside the line in left for a one-out RBI single. Junior Lake hit a sacrifice fly for a run in the eighth, but Rosenthal got out the jam. St. Louis lost a challenge in the third when Matt Holliday was called out on a close play at first after hitting a grounder to shortstop. The time of the review was 2 minutes, 54 seconds. NOTES: Missouris new basketball coach Kim Anderson threw out the first pitch. "It was an honour to throw the first ball out," he said. "I was nervous out there, but its something I will never forget." ... The Cardinals announced the time for making up Wednesdays game with the Cubs that was rained out. It will be played at 1:15 p.m. Aug. 30 as part of a split doubleheader. The second game will start at 7:15 p.m. instead of 6:15 p.m. ... The Cardinals recalled 2B Kolten Wong on Wednesday from Triple-A Memphis and optioned infielder Greg Garcia back to the club. Wong was optioned April 27 after hitting .225 in 20 games. He hit .344 in 10 games at Memphis. He was not in the starting lineup as he was still battling the effects of a stomach virus. Adidas NMD Ale .com) - Driphus Jackson had three touchdown passes, including two in a 19-second span in the opening quarter, to guide Rice to a 30-6 rout of Fresno State at the Hawaii Bowl. Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Suomi . -- The defending Canadian womens curling champions squandered an opportunity to take sole possession of first place in the standings Tuesday at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. http://www.nmdhalvalla.com/adidas-prophere-halvalla.html . -- One shot came out of bottom of a cactus, the other from the base of a desert bush with rocks scattered around it.Den Bosch, The Netherlands (SportsNetwork.com) - Dutchwoman Michaella Krajicek won her opening match at the Topshelf Open on Monday, then got engaged after the match. Following Krajiceks 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 victory over Slovakias Jana Cepelova, she was surprised by boyfriend Martin Emmrich, a German on the ATP World Tour. He proposed on the court and Krajicek said yes. "It was a huge surprise," said Krajicek. "We spoke about marriage a couple of times before, but I didnt expect it now. Its very special. Im really happy and I feel so lucky that he did it like this. We met here one year ago and I think its such a very special place to do it." Other winners Monday included Belgiums Kirsten Flipkens, Spains Garbine Muguruza and the Czech Republics Klara Koukalova. The sixth-seeded Flipkens, last years runner-up, thumped Slovenias Polana Hercog, 6-4, 6-0, while the seventh-seeded Muguruza eased past Dutch wild card Lesley KKerkhove, 6-4, 6-2. Myydään Adidas NMD. . Koukalova, the eighth seed, outlasted Spains Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor, 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-2. American qualifier Coco Vandeweghe advanced with a three-set win over New Zealands Marina Erakovic, while German qualifier Mona Barthel advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Russian Maria Kirilenko. Germanys Annika Beck knocked off Israeli qualifier Julia Glushko in straight sets and the Ukraines Elina Svitolina dropped just three games in a pasting of Japans Kurumi Nara. The top four seeds are all set for play Tuesday. Simona Halep, the defending champion and top seed, will take on qualifier Olga Govortsova of Belarus, while second-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia will meet Kazakhstans Yaroslava Shvedova. Third seed Eugenie Bouchard of Canada will square off against American Vania King and fourth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain will battle Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic. ' ' '