CHICAGO -- Anthony Rizzo wasted little time in getting to Adam Wainwright. Jim McIlvaine Jersey . Rizzo hit a two-run single in the first that ended Wainwrights scoreless streak at 25 innings, and the Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-5 Friday for their third win in four games. "Im not trying to do too much," Rizzo said. "See the ball and hit it, really try to swing at the pitches I want to hit, not pitchers pitches. Especially with Wainwright, his stuff is so good hes going to eat you alive." Wainwright (5-2) had allowed six runs in 45 innings coming in, but the Cubs matched the runs total in just five innings against the St. Louis ace, who gave up 10 hits. His ERA rose from 1.20 to 2.16. "They did a nice job of spoiling some pitches," Cubs manager Rick Renteria said of his batters. "Youve got to give them all the credit. They grinded out some at-bats today and reaped some benefits." Wainwright had been 6-0 in 12 previous starts and five relief appearances at Wrigley Field. "There were certain pitches today I didnt have good command over," he said. "My curveball was kind of sporadic in the zone and out of the zone, which is pretty rare for me. Its a funny game. Today was not my day. I accept that and take responsibility for today and move on." The scoreless streak was one inning shy of the career high for Wainwright, who had not allowed an extra-base hit since April 12 against the Cubs in St. Louis. "Hes been incredibly consistent through this season so far. ... You can see pitches were just on the edge and not where he wanted them or werent getting called," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "Its a frustrating day when he knows our guys put some offence up for him and we just cant stop them. He limited the damage and figured out ways to keep us in it. We had some chances." Rizzo added a leadoff home run in the fifth that put Chicago ahead 6-3. Welington Castillo had three doubles for Chicago, which sent the skidding Cardinals to their 10th loss in 16 games. Travis Wood (2-3) gave up three runs -- two earned -- and six hits in seven innings but allowed just one runner in his final three innings. Justin Grimm gave up Jhonny Peraltas two-run homer in the eighth, Hector Rondon pitched a perfect ninth for his second save. Cubs centerfielder Ryan Sweeney made a catch on the run in the eighth on a drive to right-centre by Allen Craig. Sweeney injured his right hamstring and was replaced by Emilio Bonifacio, who moved from second. "It was great determination," Renteria said. "Hammys hurt." St. Louis overcame its early deficit, tying the game in the third when Matt Carpenter singled in a run and scored on Peraltas double. Chicago loaded the bases in the bottom half on a pair of walks around Starlin Castros single. Ryan Sweeney drove in the go-ahead run with a weak grounder to second that allowed Rizzo to score from third, and Castillo followed with a two-out, two-run double. Castros throwing error from shortstop on Randal Grichuks grounder allowed Yadier Molina to score from third and cut the deficit to 5-3 in the fourth. NOTES: Cubs GM Jed Hoyer said RHP Jose Veras (left oblique strain) will begin his rehab assignment at Double-A Tennessee and pitch at some point in the next few days, depending on how he feels. ... Cubs prospect OF Jorge Soler (hamstring) is progressing at the teams facility in Mesa, Arizona. Hoyer said "the reports have been good" and he hopes Soler will join Tennessee soon. ... RHP Jack Arrieta is to make his big league season debut for the Cubs when he starts Saturday. RHP Michael Wacha (2-2) is slated to slart for St. Louis. 19:27ET 02-05-14 Terrance Ferguson Jersey . Colton Sissons also scored for Milwaukee (19-12-8), which went ahead with a two-goal third period. Wade MacLeod and Greg McKegg replied for Toronto (23-12-4). Abdel Nader Jersey . -- Jonathan Diaz is easy to spot in the Blue Jays clubhouse. https://www.cheapthunder.com/1381h-hamidou-diallo-jersey-thunder.html . The Canadian defensive tackle suffered the injury on Monday and had tests done on Tuesday. He was a potential starter on the defensive line but head coach Mike OShea said he wasnt even thinking about the ratio when he got the news.FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The Patriots streak of 11 post-season games as a favourite is over. For the first time since the AFC championship game against Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts in 2007, New England is a playoff underdog — against Manning and the Denver Broncos in the AFC championship game on Sunday. Tom Brady & Co. are willing to use that as motivation for the game that will send the winner to the Super Bowl. "We play with a chip on our shoulder," wide receiver Danny Amendola said. "We like to play that way." Count the Patriots out? Go right ahead, fullback James Develin said. "I cant really speak for everyone, but I personally love the underdog story," he said. "It just kind of keeps a little bit of the pressure off you and I just like to prove the doubters wrong." Brady sounded the first "woe is us" note during his weekly appearance on WEEI radio Monday. "I know when we played Baltimore nobody picked us to win," Brady said. "Im sure no ones going to pick us to win this week. Weve had our backs against the wall for a while. Really, the whole season weve lost players, and teams have really counted us out. "Weve got a bunch of underdogs on our team, and well be an underdog again." The Ravens were favoured to extend their four-game winning streak in the next to last game of the regular season. Baltimore was at home, but the Patriots won 41-7. Now New England (13-4) is preparing to go on the road again. And Bradys teammates figure if playing the underdog card against Denver (14-3) is good enough for him, its good enough for them. "If Toms going to embrace it, Im going to embrace it," New England running back LeGarrette Blount said with a smile. "Thats the leader of this team, and if thats how he feels, Im sure thats how most of the guys out here feel." In that loss to the CColts seven years ago, the Patriots held an 18-point lead late in the first half but lost 38-34. Al Tucker Jersey. Indianapolis went on to win the Super Bowl. That also was the Patriots most recent playoff road game. Since then, theyre 7-2 at home and 0-2 in Super Bowls at neutral sites. This season, they were underdogs at home against Denver on Nov. 24, but won 34-31 in overtime after trailing 24-0 at halftime. Broncos tight end Julius Thomas missed that game with a knee injury. Now hes back, one of five Denver receivers with at least 60 catches this season. "Hes a heck of a football player, a playmaker, go-to guy for them," Patriots safety Steve Gregory said. "He can create mismatches and things like that, so hes a good football player. But they have a lot of good football players." The 250-pound Blount creates mismatches as well — able to elude big linemen and run over small defensive backs. He ran for 166 yards and four touchdowns in Saturday nights 43-22 win over Indianapolis after rushing for 189 yards and two touchdowns in the previous game, a 34-20 win over Buffalo in the regular-season finale. "I can do a lot of improving," Blount said after watching video of the Indianapolis game. "Ive seen a couple of holes I could have hit, and Ive seen a couple of cuts I could have made. Im going to go out there and look at what theyre going to give me, and hopefully explode somewhere." Blount got off to a slow start this season, his first with the Patriots. It would be dangerous to underestimate him now, just as the Broncos would be unwise to put too much stock into their status as favourites. After all, Brady fooled all those teams that bypassed him in the 2000 draft until the Patriots took him in the sixth round with the 199th overall pick. "He came into the league as a big underdog," Develin said, "so Im sure hes used to that." ' ' '