Rookies Báez and Bernal lead Cardinals to 7-3 win over White Sox

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ST. LOUIS (AP) — Rookies Joshua Báez and Leo Bernal each had three hits and drove in two runs, and the St. Louis Cardinals overcame a pair home runs by Chase Meidroth to beat the Chicago White Sox 7-3 on Friday night.

Chicago lost its fourth straight game and had its AL Central lead trimmed to one half game over Cleveland, which beat Minnesota 5-2. The White Sox have lost four in a row and nine of their last 12 games.

The heart of the Cardinals' lineup combined to go 10 for 16 with six RBIs and six runs scored. Alec Burleson added an RBI single and an RBI double, and Jordan Walker singled, doubled and scored twice.

Anthony Kay (9-9) fell to 0-4 in his last six starts for Chicago. He lasted four innings, yielding three runs on five hits. The Cardinals added three more runs off of Trevor Richards in the fifth. Walker had a one-out double followed by consecutive run-scoring hits by Burleson, Báez and Bernal.

Gordon Graceffo (8-1) got the win for getting the final two outs of the fifth, including striking out pinch-hitter Tristan Peters with the bases loaded to protect a 3-2 lead. The White Sox also came up empty after loading the bases with one out in the sixth as Randal Grichuk struck out and Miguel Vargas flied out.

After the start of the game was delayed 70 minutes due to anticipated storms that didn't materialize, Meidroth hit the first pitch from Matthew Liberatore into the greenery in front of the left-center field bleachers for his 13th home run.

Meidroth added a 391-foot shot into the left-field bullpen in the third to even the score at 2.

White Sox trade-deadline acquisition Luis Castillo (4-11, 5.57 ERA) starts opposite fellow right-hander Kyle Leahy (10-4, 3.41) in the second game of the series on Saturday night.

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