The Chicago Cubs broke a close game open with a five-run 6th inning & a good quality start from Ryan Dempster to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-2 on Sunday evening from Wrigley Field.

The Cardinals had a chance to score early after Albert Pujols drew a 2-out walk from Cubs starter Ryan Dempster in the top of the 1st inning.

Ryan Ludwick then singled past a diving Aramis Ramirez at 3rd base to put runners at 1st & 2nd with 2 outs for Troy Glaus.

Glaus struck out swinging to end the scoring threat.

St. Louis had another chance to score in the top of the 2nd inning after Adam Kennedy hit a 1-out single off Dempster.

Kennedy then stole 2nd base during Chris Carpenter’s at-bat, but Carpenter & Cesar Izturis struck out to end the scoring threat.

The Cubs then took the lead for good in the bottom of the 2nd inning after Aramis Ramirez hit a lead-off single against Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter & advanced to 2nd base on Ryan Ludwick’s fielding error.

Jim Edmonds then flied out to Ryan Ludwick in right field, but advanced Ramirez to 3rd base with just 1 out.

Mark DeRosa then hit a sac fly to score Ramirez from 3rd base & give Chicago a 1-0 lead.

St. Louis had a chance to tie the game in the top of the 4th inning after Troy Glaus drew a 1-out walk from Dempster.

Yadier Molina then singled to put runners at the corners with just 1 out for Adam Kennedy.

Kennedy struck out swinging, but Molina was able to advance to 2nd base on Dempster’s wild pitch.

Chris Carpenter then flied out to Jim Edmonds in centerfield to end the scoring threat.

The Cubs had a chance to extend their lead in the bottom of the 4th inning after Aramis Ramirez’s 2-out double off Carpenter.

After Jim Edmonds walked to put runners at 1st & 2nd, Mark DeRosa grounded out to Troy Glaus at 3rd base to end the scoring threat.

The Cardinals had yet another chance to tie the game in the top of the 5th inning after Skip Schumaker hit a 1-out single off Dempster.

Joe Mather then drew a walk to put runners at 1st & 2nd with 1 out for Albert Pujols.

Pujols popped out to Mark DeRosa at 2nd base & Ryan Ludwick grounded out to Dempster to end the scoring threat.

The Cubs were able to finally break the game open in the bottom of the 6th inning, which started with a lead-off double by Alfonso Soriano off Carpenter.

Kosuke Fukudome then grounded out to Carpenter, but was able to advance Soriano to 3rd base on the play.

Derrek Lee then hit an RBI single to score Soriano from 3rd base & give Chicago a 2-0 lead.

Aramis Ramirez then drew a walk to put runners at 1st & 2nd with 1 out, which forced Chris Carpenter to leave the game with a right triceps injury.

Ron Villone then entered the game from the Cardinals bullpen & allowed an infield RBI single to Jim Edmonds, which scored Lee from 2nd base & gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead.

Ramirez was also able to advance to 3rd base on the play thanks to a throwing error by Adam Kennedy at 2nd base.

Mark DeRosa then hit an RBI single off Cardinals reliever Brad Thompson to score Ramirez from 3rd base, which gave Chicago a 4-0 lead.

Jim Edmonds was gunned out at 3rd base on the play, but the Cubs weren’t done working some 2-out magic.

Geovany Soto drew a walk to put runners at the corners for Ronny Cedeno, who drove both DeRosa & Soto in with a 2-run double & gave the Cubs a 6-0 lead.

Cedeno was then gunned down at 3rd base while trying to go for a triple.

The Cardinals scored their only 2 runs of the game in the 7th inning on a pair of RBI singles from Joe Mather & Albert Pujols.

Ryan Dempster picks up the win (13-5) for the Cubs after pitching 6 2/3 innings & allowed just 2 runs on 6 hits while striking out 6 Cardinal batters.

Chris Carpenter (0-1) suffers his first loss of the season for the Cardinals after allowing 4 runs on 7 hits in 5 1/3 innings of work.

The Cubs will enjoy an off day tomorrow & start their 6-game road trip on Tuesday evening against the Atlanta Braves at 6:10 PM cst from Turner Field.

Cubs righthander Rich Harden (1-1, 2.10 in 5 starts for Cubs) will be opposed by Braves righthander Charlie Morton (3-5, 5.70) in Tuesday’s opener.

Harden did beat the Braves as a member of the Oakland Athletics back on May 17th from Turner Field when he allowed just 1 run on 4 hits & struck out 8 batters in 7 innings during the A’s 5-4 win.

Since joining the Cubs, Harden has allowed just 2 runs in 14 innings of work away from Wrigley Field.

Morton has yet to win a home start this season, as he is 0-4 in 5 Turner Field starts with a 8.39 ERA.

Signing off for now,