CHICAGO (AP) — Willson Contreras hit a tiebreaking two-run homer, Jose Quintana won again and the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-3 on Sunday night to move into a virtual tie for first in the NL Central. Kyle Schwarber also connected as the Cubs won for the eighth time in nine games since the All-Star break. The World Series champions improved to 51-46, just a few percentage points ahead of Milwaukee after the Brewers (53-48) lost 6-3 at Philadelphia.

Quintana (6-8) struck out seven in six innings in his first home start since he was acquired in a blockbuster trade with the White Sox on July 13. He pitched seven sparkling innings in an 8-0 victory at Baltimore in his Cubs debut last Sunday. Coming off his first career shutout, Michael Wacha (7-4) was charged with five runs and six hits in six innings in his first loss since May 30. Wade Davis finished for his 20th save in 20 chances.

St. Louis first baseman Matt Carpenter left the Cardinals’ game against the Chicago Cubs with right quad tightness, Sunday night. Carpenter reached on an error in the first and was thrown out at home when he tried to score on Jedd Gyorko’s two-out double to left-center. Carpenter was replaced by Luke Voit before the Cubs batted in the second inning Sunday night. The 31-year-old Carpenter is batting .248 with 14 homers and 46 RBIs in 93 games. The team says he is day to day.