Cards drop finale, but buoyed by winning trip

A winning road trip and two series wins have the Cardinals going back to St. Louis in a good position as they head into a packed final three weeks of the regular season.

Despite a 5-1 loss to the Cubs in Monday afternoon’s series finale at Wrigley Field, the Cardinals will return to Busch Stadium having won three out of five against Chicago and two of three against the Reds earlier on the trip.

• Box score

Monday was the final game of 10 played between the Cardinals and Cubs this season, and the teams split the season series, 5-5. All 10 have been played at Wrigley due to the outbreak that interrupted the Cards’ schedule in August. St. Louis finished this series 2 1/2 games behind National League Central-leading Chicago.

“Two out of three, three out of five -- you do that and feel pretty good about your life in this game,” manager Mike Shildt said. “Guys played really well across the board. It was a positive road trip. Clearly we would have liked to get that one today, but we continue to play with a lot of will and a lot of fundamentally sound baseball.”

Starter Johan Oviedo (0-2) got the Cardinals through 4 2/3 innings on 96 pitches, striking out one while scattering eight hits and allowing five runs (three earned). He induced only four swings and misses against the Cubs, but that was his goal.

“I’m still learning how I can compete with those hitters,” said Oviedo, ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Cardinals' No. 12 prospect. “I was trying to get quick outs, a lot of ground balls and fly balls. I was more trying to look for contact. I think that’s what I got.”

The Cards didn’t help their rookie starter. They had two chances at two outs in the bottom of the fifth -- they missed both, and in three pitches, the Cubs put a close game out of reach.

Third baseman Matt Carpenter made a wide throw to first on a grounder by Javier Báez, who reached base four times Monday. Kolten Wong, after fielding a grounder from Kyle Schwarber, then made a high throw to second base in an attempt to start a double play -- but Schwarber instead made it to second, and Báez reached third. Both came home on Willson Contreras’ single to left field, and the inning was lengthy enough that the Cardinals turned it over to their bullpen.

“Oviedo’s not only got a bright long-term future, but this guy’s going to help us this year,” Shildt said. “He’s got the pitches, he’s got the makeup, he’s got the competitive spirit, he’s going to continue to grow from his experiences. This guy is going to help us out.

“We didn’t help him as much as we could have, perhaps, but the guys have been playing their tails off, and we’re going to make some mistakes every now and then. He’s going to eventually be able to go deeper with his pitches when he starts to be more efficient with his pitches.”

The errors were exactly what the Cardinals did not need on a day facing right-hander Kyle Hendricks, who stymied an offense that found its groove over the road trip. The veteran has historically vexed St. Louis, and he was as efficient as ever in eight innings on Monday, allowing one run on seven hits while coaxing three double plays. Hendricks kept the Cards off balance and moved to 9-3 in 20 career starts against them.

In the top of the sixth, Hendricks (5-4) got three outs on five pitches. He had one three-ball count overall and induced his second-lowest average exit velocity this season at 83.2 mph, according to Statcast.

The Cardinals scored their lone run in the seventh, when backup catcher Matt Wieters knocked his first hit of the season. Wieters replaced Yadier Molina in the sixth inning after Molina was diagnosed with a left elbow contusion after having difficulty extending his elbow on swings. Shildt said that Molina would be back in the lineup Tuesday and will likely play both games of the doubleheader against the Twins.

While the regular-season series is over between the Cardinals and Cubs, they could still yet meet in the postseason.

“I think we’re battling,” Oviedo said. “As a team, we feel great. We want to win the World Series, go to the playoffs, all that stuff. It’s really exciting to be part of it.”