Cubs, Cards Drop Friday Contests

CHICAGO -- Postseason or regular season, Daniel Murphy keeps crushing the ball at Wrigley Field.

Murphy hit two home runs to back Tanner Roark, and the Washington Nationals won the opener of a series between division leaders by beating the Chicago Cubs 4-2 on a chilly Friday afternoon.

"We started this series off the right way and, hopefully, gave ourselves a chance to win the series tomorrow," he said. "We're really excited about coming in and seeing if we can win a series. That's what it's all about this time of year.

Counting the postseason, Murphy is 20 for 38 with four home runs in his last 10 games at Wrigley. With the Mets in the 2015 NL Championship Series, he hit two homers in Chicago and four overall to help New York sweep.

Roark (9-7) didn't allow a run until Javier Baez chased him with a two-run homer with one out in the seventh. The right-hander allowed five hits while improving to 3-1 in his past four starts.

Hendricks (4-4) gave up three runs and five hits in seven innings in his longest outing since May 24. Baseball's ERA leader last season, he missed about seven weeks because of tendinitis in his right hand before returning on July 24.

"Pitch efficiency is much better," Hendricks after his third start back. "It clicked right there about the fourth inning. I started getting some quicker outs, quicker innings. When you get through seven, it felt real good."

Chicago has lost three straight after winning 14 of 17 following the All-Star break. After giving up three homers to Arizona's Paul Goldschmidt on Thursday, the Cubs got pounded by Murphy this time.

He hit a two-run shot halfway up the bleachers in right-center in the first and went the opposite way in the sixth, driving his 19th home run to left-center. That gave him two multi-homer games this season and five in his career.

After Baez cut the lead to one in the seventh with his 15th home run, Brian Kintzler got the final two outs of the inning.

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CINCINNATI -- Asher Wojciechowski frustrated St. Louis for five innings, and that was enough.

The right-hander gave one of his best performances in his return to the rotation, and Joey Votto drove home a pair of runs with a double and a single on Friday night, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 3-2 victory over the Cardinals.

The Reds have won all five games against St. Louis at Great American Ball Park this season. They lead 8-3 in their season series.

Wojciechowski (2-1) started after making six relief appearances in July, taking the place of the injured Scott Feldman. Wojciechowski allowed only three hits, including Mike Leake's run-scoring infield single, and left after throwing 78 pitches.

"He's a mature kid," manager Bryan Price said of the rookie. "He's not going to get his feelings hurt if he has to leave. It's been a while since he went that long."

Wojciechowski felt strong on a cool night but didn't object to leaving after five innings.

"It feels great," he said. "I was out there trying to do what I had been doing in the long relief role."

Votto had a pair of RBI hits off Mike Leake (7-10), who fell to 0-5 in eight career starts against his former team. Billy Hamilton added a run-scoring single off Leake, who allowed eight hits in six innings.

"It's part of the game," Leake said. "Something's telling me I'm not supposed to beat them yet."

Votto played in his fifth All-Star game and then went into a 5-for-39 slump that dropped his average to .295. He has hit safely in his last nine games, the longest active streak on the team.

Michael Lorenzen gave up Carson Kelly's RBI single in the eighth, and the Cardinals loaded the bases with two outs. Randal Grichuk took a called third strike to end the threat.

Raisel Iglesias gave up a single and a walk in the ninth before finishing his 19th save in 20 chances. Cincinnati is only 6-15 since the All-Star break.