Cubs Beat Braves, Cardinals Down Pirates

Jon Lester stopped himself as he started to say he hoped the Cubs could keep winning at their current pace. That would be asking for too much.

Lester earned his fourth straight victory after allowing no earned runs in seven innings as Chicago beat the Atlanta Braves 13-2 on Sunday to win their final series at Turner Field.

The Cubs (43-18) have won 14 of 18 and improved to 39-2 when scoring at least four runs. They moved 25 games over .500 with their best record through 61 games since 1907, when they won the World Series.

"It's been fun to be a part of and hopefully we can just keep ... obviously the pace we're on is pretty crazy," Lester said. "Not a lot of us have answers for what's going on. Enjoy it while we can."

Lester (8-3) also is on an impressive personal run. He has allowed only one earned run with no walks in three wins this month, lowering his ERA to 1.89. He gave up five hits to the Braves, his high mark of the month, with seven strikeouts.

"That's three in a row he's been outstanding," said Cubs manager Joe Maddon. "Never tired. His stuff was still good at the end. He's pitching with a lot of confidence right now."

Maddon also had difficulty finding perspective for the Cubs' strong record.

"Listen, I have nothing to complain about," Maddon said. "I have been on a team with this kind of record in the minor leagues. Never in the majors."

Chicago outscored Atlanta 21-4 in winning the final two games of the three-game series.

Cardinals 8, Pirates 3

Several players who have given the Pirates trouble for years helped the St. Louis Cardinals finish a rare sweep in Pittsburgh.

Mike Leake pitched seven effective innings, Matt Holliday homered and the Cardinals cruised to an 8-3 victory Sunday.

Randal Grichuk also homered for surging St. Louis, which has won five consecutive games and swept a series at PNC Park for the first time since August 2009. Holliday and Yadier Molina each had three hits.

"We just tried to come here and play the game the right way and tried to win games, and obviously we haven't done this in a long time here, a sweep," Molina said. "This is great; we played a great three games."

Molina and Holliday have combined for 310 career hits against Pittsburgh. Leake won seven straight decisions versus the Pirates before losing his previous outing against them in April.

St. Louis entered the weekend having lost 22 of its past 31 in Pittsburgh, but won a series at PNC Park for the first time since 2012.

"At the end of the day, you're still trying to pinpoint what they don't hit the best," said Leake, who pitched for the Cincinnati Reds before this season. "My fastball-cutter combination was working pretty well."

Leake (5-4) won for the fifth time in six decisions, limiting the Pirates to two earned runs and six singles with no walks and six strikeouts. He also went 2 for 3 at the plate and scored during the Cardinals' three-run third.

Royals 3, White Sox 1

The Baltimore brawl is over. Yordano Ventura is concentrating on finding his form for the Kansas City Royals. This was an awfully nice step in that direction.

Ventura pitched seven sharp innings in his first start since his fight with Manny Machado, and the Royals beat the Chicago White Sox 3-1 on Sunday for their second straight win following an eight-game losing streak.

"Today (I) was feeling what (I've) been working on all along," Ventura said, with catching coach Pedro Grifol serving as translator, "which is get the ball out of the glove quickly and get out in front."

Ventura (5-4) struck out a season-high 10 and walked one in his first win since May 17 against Boston, making the most of Kansas City's run-scoring singles in the first and second. Salvador Perez added a leadoff homer down the left-field line in the ninth.

The 25-year-old Ventura went 0-2 with a 6.17 ERA in his previous four starts.

Sunday, June 12 Scoreboard

Toronto 10, Baltimore 9

Oakland 6, Cincinnati 1

Tampa Bay 5, Houston 0

Chicago Cubs 13, Atlanta 2

Detroit 4, New York Yankees 1

Kansas City 3,  Chicago White Sox 1

Milwaukee 5, New York Mets 3

Minnesota 7, Boston 4 (F/10)

Cleveland 8, Los Angeles Angels 3

Washington 5, Philadelphia 4

Texas 6, Seattle 4

Coloado 2, San Diego 1

Arizona 6, Miami 0

St. Louis 8, Pittsburgh 3

San Francisco 2, Los Angeles Dodgers 1

Monday, June 13 Schedule (All Times Central)

Chicago at Washington, 6 p.m.

Philadelphia at Toronto, 6:07  p.m.

Cincinnati at Atlanta, 6:10 p.m.

Detroit at Chicago, 7:10 p.m.

Cleveland at Kansas City, 7:15 p.m.

Los Angeles at Arizona, 8:40 p.m.

Minnesota at Los Angeles, 9:05 p.m.

Texas at Oakland, 9:05 p.m.

Miami at San Diego, 9:10 p.m.

Milwaukee at San Francisco, 9:15 p.m.