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Christian Bethancourt hit a three-run homer to power the Chicago Cubs to a 6-3 victory over the visiting St. Louis Cardinals on Friday afternoon.

Michael Busch also hit a home run for the Cubs, who won their third straight game, including the first two of this four-game series.

Chicago starting pitcher Javier Assad needed 97 pitches to get through four innings. The right-hander allowed one run on four hits and three walks while striking out three.

Tyson Miller (3-1) earned the victory and Hector Neris secured his 15th save.

In his Cardinals debut, starting pitcher Erick Fedde (7-5) allowed five runs on six hits in five innings. He struck out four and walked none.

St. Louis went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position while losing for the sixth time in nine games.

The Cubs took a 5-0 lead in the second inning. Singles by Nico Hoerner, Dansby Swanson and Pete Crow-Armstrong produced one run, then Bethancourt lined his three-run homer into the basket above the right field wall.

One out later, Busch blasted his solo homer.

The Cardinals cut their deficit to 5-1 in the third inning. Michael Siani and Masyn Winn hit one-out singles and Willson Contreras and Paul Goldschmidt drew two-out walks to force in a run.

Assad avoided further trouble by retiring Nolan Arenado on a flyout with the bases loaded.

The Cardinals capitalized on an erratic Chicago bullpen to cut the deficit to 5-3 in the eighth inning. Reliever Julian Merryweather walked leadoff hitter Alec Burleson, then he walked Arenado, Lars Nootbaar and Tommy Pham with two outs to force in a run.

Neris entered and immediately walked Brendan Donovan to score another run before Brandon Crawford struck out to end the inning.

The Cubs upped their lead to 6-3 in the home half of the eighth when Seiya Suzuki hit a double and scored on Kyle Leahy’s errant pickoff attempt.

Suzuki tripled in the first inning and was Chicago’s only batter with multiple hits. Winn hit a pair of singles for St. Louis.

–Field Level Media