ST. LOUIS -- Dioner Navarro made it look simple Saturday night. The Chicago catcher, picking up a bat for the first time in three days, lashed a run-scoring double in the eighth inning to break a tie and cap a three-run rally that helped the Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-5. The win gave the Cubs, who won the opener 3-0 on Friday, a series win in St. Louis for the first time in nearly three years. Matt Holliday homered twice for St. Louis, which lost its fourth in a row. Chicago won for the third time in four games. Navarro arrived in St. Louis early in the afternoon after having a battery of tests following a scary home-plate collision with Philadelphias Chase Utley on Wednesday night. Navarro was carted off the field with what was thought to be a broken ankle. But X-rays and an MRI showed no damage, so Navarro rejoined his team in time for Saturdays contest. After speaking with manager Dale Sveum, it was determined that Navarro could be used, "only in a game-winning situation," according to the catcher. Navarro didnt take batting practice Saturday and was unable to sharpen his stroke. Yet as a pinch hitter in the eighth, he slapped an offering from reliever Trevor Rosenthal into the gap to break a 4-4 tie. "I knew he was going to throw me a fastball," Navarro said. "He didnt want to go to 2-1 (in the count). I put a good swing on it and was fortunate enough to hit it in the gap." Navarros ability to come off the bench and drive a 98 mph pitch impressed his teammates, especially infielder Darwin Barney, who tied the game with a two-run double in the eighth. "The guy is unbelievable," Barney said. "He gets here today, he hasnt taken a swing. To turn on 98 after having not seen a pitch in three days, thats pretty unbelievable," Navarro convinced Sveum that he was good to go before the game. "We tested to find out if he was even ready to play," Sveum said. "You dont worry about him because hes so good off the bench." Navarro is 7 for 20 (.350) as a pinch hitter this season. The Cubs trailed 4-2 entering the eighth, but tied it 4-4 on Barneys two-out, two-run double off Rosenthal (1-3). Navarro followed with his fifth pinch-hit RBI of the season to give Chicago a 5-4 lead. Blake Parker (1-1) picked up the victory for the Cubs, who last won a series in St. Louis on Sept. 13-15, 2010. Chicago has captured the first two games of this set despite struggling since mid-July. Barney says the Cardinals simply bring out the best in his club. "You hate to say it, but you get up more for games like this," Barney said. "Theyre in the hunt, and were playing spoilers once again. Hopefully, we can keep doing it." Welington Castillo homered in the second to give Chicago to a 1-0 lead. Castillo and Nate Schierholtz drew leadoff walks to start the eighth. Rosenthal struck out the next two batters before Barney hit his 20th double of the season. Kevin Gregg picked up his 25th save in 29 opportunities despite giving up Hollidays 15th homer of the season, a solo shot with one out in the ninth. Gregg retired the final two batters on ground outs. Schierholtz added a run-scoring single in the ninth. Castillo also had a sacrifice fly in the fifth that trimmed the deficit to 3-2. Holliday hit a three-run homer in the fourth off Chicago starter Carlos Villanueva to give the Cardinals a 3-1 lead. St. Louis rookie right-hander Michael Wacha, making his fourth major league start, surrendered two runs on five hits in a 99-pitch stint. He was recalled from Triple-A Memphis earlier in the day for the spot start. Matt Carpenter and Carlos Beltran led off the fourth with singles to set the stage for Hollidays line-drive blast over the left-field wall. The three-run outburst broke a string of 17 straight scoreless innings by St. Louis. "Sometimes we just dont get it done," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. "We had opportunities. Weve just got to do things a little different." Holliday had the 18th multi-homer game of his career. Villanueva gave up four runs on seven hits over six innings. His last win as a starter came on April 18. The Cardinals stretched the lead to 4-2 on back-to-back doubles by Carpenter and Beltran in the sixth. St. Louis switched around its starting rotation for the series, moving ace Adam Wainwright, the original Saturday starter, to Tuesday so he could face Pittsburgh in the first game of a three-game series between the top two teams in the NL Central. Darwin said the move did not go unnoticed in the Chicago clubhouse. "It wasnt not talked about, lets say that," he said. NOTES: Barney is 7 for 15 with six RBI in his last four games against the Cardinals. ... St. Louis OF Jon Jay, INF Daniel Descalso and C Tony Cruz met with several Real Madrid soccer players, including standout Cristiano Ronaldo, before to Real Madrids match with Inter Milan earlier in the day. ... St. Louis rookie C Rob Johnson started for the third time this season and had two hits. ... Cruz is mired in an 0-for-10 slump. ... Chicago is 34-34 since May 26. Cheap Air Max 90 Trainers . -- If Henry Burris has his way, he will be the starting quarterback to lead the Hamilton Tiger-Cats back to the Grey Cup next year. Cheap Air Max 200 . Jeff Green scored 13 points and Kris Humphries 12 for the Celtics, who nearly blew an 18-point, second-half lead. Sullingers 20-20 was the first by a Celtics player since Kevin Garnetts first game in Boston in 2007. Garnett was dealt -- along with Paul Pierce -- to Brooklyn during the off-season. http://www.fakeairmaxukoutlet.com/best-max-tn-trainers-cheap-uk.html ., for the next three years with the signings on Monday of Daryl Townsend and Michael Carter. Fake Air Max For Sale . -- Nate Robinson has played for seven teams, so beating one of them is no longer a rare occurrence. Nike Air Max 270 Cheap Uk . They had already blown a double-digit lead, fans were hitting the exits, and a long seven-game road trip waited at the end.Rohit Sharma played a captains knock as Mumbai Indians chalked up their second win of the IPL campaign with a six-wicket victory at home to Royal Challengers Bangalore. The India star (62 from 44 balls) hit his second fifty of the season before Englands Jos Buttler fired a rapid 28 off 14 deliveries as the defending champions trumped Bangalores 170-7 with 12 balls in the bank following back-to-back defeats to Gujarat Lions and Sunrisers Hyderabad earlier in the week.Slow left-armer Krunal Pandya (2-27) had dented Bangalores knock by dismissing Virat Kohli (33 from 30) and AB de Villiers (29 from 21) in the 11th over and bright, late cameos from youngsters Travis Head (37 from 24) and Sarfaraz Khan (28 from 18) proved in vain as the visitors slipped to a second defeat in a row. Marcus North and Rob Key were impressed with the nature of Mumbai Indians win over Royal Challengers Bangalore. Bangalore were shorn of Chris Gayle at Wankhede Stadium after the Jamaican flew home for the birth of his first child, with Kohlis team making six changes to the XI that lost to a Quinton de Kock-inspired Delhi Daredevils last time out.Gayles replacement, Lokesh Rahul (23 from 14), provided ample entertainment, cracking two fours and two sixes from the four balls immediately before hee clipped Mitchell McClenaghan - who had earlier struck him on the helmet - to slip.ddddddddddddKohli and De Villiers came into the game on the back of successive fifties against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi, and threatened to pass the milestone again as they shared a stand of 59 for the second wicket in 39 deliveries. Krunal Pandya dismissed Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers However, the pair fell to Pandya in the space of five balls - Kohli caught at long-off, De Villiers stumped - while Shane Watson made just five before edging Jasprit Bumrah (3-31) behind as Bangalore lost three wickets for eight runs.Head, though, impressed on his IPL debut, the Australian left-hander - who creamed a century for Adelaide Strikers in this years Big Bash - adding 63 from 34 balls with the inventive Sarfaraz prior to being run out in the final over. Heads team-mate and countryman, Kane Richardson, then picked up a wicket with his first ball for Bangalore, the seamer forcing Parthiv Patel (5) to skew to De Villiers at point at the start of the second over.Sharma and Rayudu (31 from 23), however, soon found their rhythm, combining to amass 79 runs from 55 deliveries before they fell to the spin of Iqbal Abdulla (3-40) in the 11th and 13th overs respectively.Buttler became Abdullas third victim in the 16th after smiting the slow left-armer for successive sixes down the ground from the previous two balls, leaving Kieron Pollard (40no from 19) to pummel Mumbai over the line, the West Indian clubbing four boundaries and three maximums.Catch more IPL action on Thursday as unbeaten Gujarat Lions face Eoin Morgan and Sunrisers Hyderabad. That clash is live on Sky Sports 3 from 3pm. ' ' '
