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CHICAGO -- Preparing for the final weekend of the regular season, the St. Louis Cardinals hoped to easily move past the non-contending Chicago Cubs. Instead, they ran into Chicagos buzzsaw -- Jake Arrieta. Arrieta (10-5), coming off a one-hit shutout against Cincinnati last week, limited St. Louis to two hits and an unearned run while striking out 10 in seven innings, leading the Cubs to a 3-1 victory. "Hes got swing-and-miss stuff in the strike zone and hes got the ability to get it out of the strike zone as well, and that makes him tough," Cardinals infielder Matt Carpenter said. "Anytime you got a guy with that type of electric stuff, you kind of feel like youre on defence up there. Anytime he gets ahead of you, youre in a bad spot." Arrieta outdueled St. Louis John Lackey (3-3), both on the mound and at the plate. After Lackey intentionally walked Logan Watkins in the fourth inning, Arrieta hit a two-run triple -- the first triple of his career and the first by a Cubs pitcher since 2012. The Cubs never surrendered the lead. "Its amazing that that at-bat is the one that does it," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. Lackey gave up two runs and five hits in 6 2-3 innings. He struck out eight, his most since joining the Cardinals at the trade deadline. The Cardinals, who clinched a playoff berth earlier in the week, remained 1 1/2 games ahead of Pittsburgh in the NL Central. The Pirates lost at Atlanta, reducing St. Louis magic number to three for clinching the division title. "Im tired of looking up there and waiting for somebody else to help us," Matheny said following the game. "Nobodys helped us all season long. Why are they going to start now?" The Cardinals loss assured NL East champion Washington will open a division series at home. The Cardinals were held without a hit through four innings but managed two singles in the fifth. Yadier Molina came in to score on Welington Castillos throwing error, cutting the Cubs lead to 2-1. Molina has hit safely in seven consecutive games and 12 of his past 14. Chris Valaika had a pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth to extend the Cubs lead to 3-1. The Cardinals mounted a two-out rally in the ninth, but Hector Rondon worked out of the jam for his 13th consecutive save and his 27th in 31 opportunities this season. After the game, Arrieta took pride in playing the role of spoiler. "To pitch well against them, at this time of the season with the implications on the game that are there, its meaningful," Arrieta said. "Its just another positive thing to use moving forward into the off-season." Arrieta has allowed two or fewer runs in 19 of 25 starts this season. TRAINING ROOM Cubs: SS Starlin Castro will miss the remainder of the season, according to manager Rick Renteria. Castro injured his left ankle sliding into home against the Milwaukee Brewers on Sept. 2. Cardinals: OF Jon Jay missed Wednesdays game due to a personal matter. He will rejoin the team on Friday in Arizona. UP NEXT Cubs: LHP Eric Jokisch (0-0, 1.74) will make his first career start on Friday when the Cubs open a three-game set at Milwaukee. Cardinals: RHP Michael Wacha (5-6, 3.18), who missed approximated three months earlier this season with a stress reaction in his throwing shoulder, starts for the Cardinals on Friday against Arizona. WRIGLEY FACELIFT Now that the Cubs regular-season schedule is over, improvements and renovations at the 100-year-old ballpark -- including constructing a large video scoreboard in left field -- are expected to begin soon. The scoreboard and other outfield signs are expected to be in place by the start of next season, but the new home clubhouse isnt slated to be completed until 2016. Cheap Nike Shoes For Sale . 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Ryan Doumit homered and Tommy La Stella had two doubles and drove in two runs to lead the Atlanta Braves to a doubleheader sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies with a 5-1 victory in the nightcap Saturday. La Stella hit a three-run triple in Atlantas 10-3 win in the opener. Chris Johnson had three hits with an RBI and Justin Upton had two hits and drove in a run for the Braves, who have won five of six. Atlanta finished with 13 hits in the nightcap and had a combined 15 runs and 20 hits on the day. "Its a long day, definitely a long day and its not something you look forward to, playing two in one day," Johnson said. "But to come out with two wins, you cant complain at all." Cameron Rupp had two hits with a double for the slumping Phillies, who have lost seven of nine. Philadelphia totalled four runs in the two games and now have scored three runs or less 41 times, dropping to 7-34 in those contests. The Phillies also fell to 18-26 at hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park, where they entered Saturday batting .229 as a team. "We had tough going on the offensive side and couldnt get anything going," Philadelphia manager Ryne Sandberg said. "Its disappointing. We came in with some momentum, but the last three games it was lack of offence and not many good plays on defence. We have to do things differently, we have to score more runs and put the pitching and defence together." Atlanta right-hander David Hale (3-2) made his first start since being moved to the bullpen on April 30 and allowed one run on four hits with three strikeouts and a walk in five innings. Anthony Varvaro, Jordan Walden and Gus Schlosser combined to pitch four scoreless innings of relief. The four pitchers limited Philadelphia to six hits. "David Hale gave us everything he had," Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "He gave us what we wanted and gave us an opportunity." The Phillies called up Sean OSullivan (0-1) from Triple-A Lehigh Valley for a spot start and the right-hander lasted 5 2-3 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits with three strikeouts. OSullivan, who has had stints with the Angels, Royals and Padres, made his 38th big league career start. "I wouldve liked to have gone deeper in the game, but I thought I came right after them," OSullivan said. "I tried to eat as many innings as I could." Uptons RBI single in the first staked Atlanta to a 1-0 lead. The Phillies tied it in the third on Jimmy Rollins sacrifice fly before the Braves used a three-run sixth to take the lead for good. OSullivan retired the first two batters before three straight singles, the last, a run-scoring base hit to right field by Johnson, ended his night. Left-hander Mario Hollands relieved OSullivan and surrendered a two-run double to La Stella that gave the Braves a three-run lead. The Phillies got a chance in the sixth when a leadoff single by Marlon Byrd and an error by second baseman La Stella on Ryan Howards grounder put runners on first and second with no outs against Varvaro.dddddddddddd. However, unlike in the opener when two straight Howard errors in the fourth inning led to a pair of pivotal, game-tying runs, Philadelphia couldnt take advantage of Atlantas miscue. John Mayberry Jr. popped out and Cody Asche and Cesar Hernandez flew out to left. In the opener, Ervin Santana (6-5) snapped a four-game winless streak, allowing two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and one walk in 6 2-3 innings. Santana had lost his last three starts with a 5.89 ERA in those outings. But he was strong after the first two innings, retiring nine straight during one stretch and surrendering just three hits after the second inning. "It was a great effort," Gonzalez said. "We were looking for that kind of outing to be able to save the bullpen." Said Santana, "In the first inning, a couple pitches were up. After that, I just made a good adjustment and kept the ball down for the most part." Howard made two costly errors in the fourth inning, resulting in two unearned runs that allowed the Braves to tie the game at 2. Freddie Freemans hard-hit grounder went through Howards legs and the error put runners on second and third. "It was a possible double-play ball and we wouldve been out of the inning," Sandberg said. "It changed the whole game." The next batter, Upton, hit a medium grounder to first but reached safely when Howard bobbled and then lost control of the ball. Andrelton Simmons scored on that error and Freeman, who went to third on the play, then scored on Jason Heywards groundout to first. Fans gave a sarcastic cheer when Howard made the putout. "You make an error and give teams extra opportunities, and sometimes theyll make you pay for it," Gonzalez said. "We only got two runs out of those errors, but it got us back in the game. You have to take advantage of those. If you give opportunities to good baseball teams, theyre going to get you." Atlanta then went ahead in the sixth on Uptons two-run double off the wall in left. Roberto Hernandez (3-7) didnt allow a hit through 3 1-3 innings and ended up giving up just three hits in seven innings with two strikeouts and three walks. Two of the four runs he allowed were unearned. NOTES: Evan Gattis was out of the lineup for both games on Saturday. The Braves catcher left due to back spasms after striking out swing in the first inning of Fridays game. Christian Bethancourt was called up from Triple-A Gwinnett before the game. Bethancourt, who arrived at the ballpark an hour and 15 minutes before the game, hit an infield single in the sixth for his first major-league hit. To make room for Bethancourt, the Braves sent right-hander Juan Jaime to Triple-A. ... Philadelphia Flyers goalie Steve Mason, in town for the NHL draft at the Wells Fargo Center on Friday and Saturday, was in attendance for the opener on Saturday. ... The teams will conclude their four-game series at 1:35 Sunday afternoon with Atlanta RHP Aaron Harang (6-6, 3.78) facing Philadelphia RHP David Buchanan (4-3, 4.79). ' ' '