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CHICAGO -- Yadier Molina had a simple goal for his ninth-inning at-bat with the bases loaded and the score tied on Sunday. "I was looking not to strike out," he said. After fouling off some tough two-strike pitches, Molina hit a ground-ball single up the middle to drive in two runs and the St. Louis Cardinals snapped out of an offensive funk with a 5-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs. "I got a little lucky that they were playing me to pull," Molina said. "It was a good at-bat. I was able to put the ball in play and good things happened." The defending National League champions had lost four of five to fall a game below .500. The Cardinals scored all their runs with two outs. Molina, moved into the No. 2 spot to jump start the lineup, was 0 for 4 before coming through in the ninth. But it was a wild pitch in the seventh inning that allowed the Cubs to tie the score at 3 that had Molina more frustrated. The pitch from reliever Carlos Martinez was in the dirt and trickled through Molinas legs, allowing Luis Valbuena to score. "I was there," Molina said. "I dont know. Its one of those things. I was ready for it and the ball still goes through my legs." Kevin Siegrist (1-1) got the win in relief, while Trevor Rosenthal picked up his eighth save in as many opportunities despite a scare in the ninth inning. Hector Randon (0-1) took the loss for the Cubs, who were attempting to win four straight games for the first time since July. While Cardinals manager Mike Matheny had looked for Molina, one of his hottest hitters, to get the offence going, it was a couple of struggling batters at the bottom of the lineup that got things started early. With two outs in the second inning and Jhonny Peralta on first base, Randal Grichuk drilled a triple into the right-centre field gap for a 1-0 lead. Mark Ellis, who went 3 for 4, followed with a double to left-centre to make it 2-0. Both Grichuk (.167) and Ellis (.143) entered hitting well below .200. St. Louis stretched the lead to 3-0 in the third as Matt Adams doubled home Matt Holiday. The Cubs pulled within 3-2 in the fourth with some clutch two-out hitting. With one out, Ryan Kalish singled and John Baker walked. After a groundout moved the runners to second and third, Cubs starter Jason Hammel singled to right to drive in both. Molinas go-ahead single to centre came on the sixth pitch of the at-bat from Randon. "I thought I made a good pitch today, but something happened," Randon said. Molina seemed more relieved that the wild pitch wasnt a factor than he drove in the game-deciding runs. "(Molina) does a good job of not wearing his emotions and how frustrating that is for him," Matheny said. "Its hard to count the number of balls he keeps in front of him, the number of runs he saves. Its something we dont take for granted." Valbuena doubled in a run with two outs in the ninth to make it 5-4, but Rosenthal got Anthony Rizzo to ground out to end the game. "Guys kept grinding it out," Cubs manager Rick Renteria said. "We just fell a little short." NOTES: The ESPN broadcast team of Dan Shulman and John Kruk worked from the bleachers. ... While making a rehab start Sunday with Double A Springfield, LHP Jaime Garcia (shoulder) was hit by a pitch on the left elbow and left after two innings and 28 pitches. "I think they went in and took precautionary X-rays," Matheny said. "I havent heard anything back yet." ... In the same game, RHP Jason Motte threw a scoreless inning, striking out three, in his first rehab outing. ... Rizzo entered with a .429 on-base percentage, which was fifth-best in the National League. ... The Cards open a series in Atlanta on Monday, with RHP Shelby Miller (3-2) facing RHP Aaron Harang, while the Cubs host the crosstown White Sox with RHP Jeff Samardzija (0-3) going up against LHP Jose Quintana (1-2). Craig Anderson Senators Jersey . The Extreme Heat Policy was enacted at Melbourne Park just before 2 p.m. Thursday, suspending all matches on outer courts until the early evening and requiring the closure of the retractable roofs at Rod Laver and Hisense arenas before play could continue on the show courts. Brady Tkachuk Jersey .J. -- The New York Jets have promoted Tony Sparano Jr. http://www.senatorssale.com/authentic-daniel-alfredsson-senators-jersey/ . According to a report from ESPN, Lynch wants a new contract from the Seahawks, and will likely skip all off-season workouts until he can renegotiate his deal with the Seahawks. Ottawa Senators Jerseys . Smith, an eighth overall pick, had two goals in only 276 minutes of playing time over 16 appearances last season. The left side midfielder played only 43 minutes in three games this season. Jean-Gabriel Pageau Senators Jersey . - This win was more the New Jersey Devils style.(SportsNetwork.com) - Theres a subtle change that occurs once a team expects to be above .500 in the NFL. No longer are wins just enough. Instead, even 14- point wins are parsed for bad moments. That could now be the case for the Miami Dolphins, who improved to 4-3 with a 27-13 defeat of in-state rival Jacksonville, but have spent at least some of the subsequent week - while preparing for a visit from cross-country foe San Diego - explaining why the toppling of the Jaguars wasnt exactly a highlight reel. The Dolphins scored twice on interception returns against Jacksonville, a happy defensive occurrence that bailed out a largely impotent offensive unit that went three-and-out on its first three series, had just three first downs in the first 30 minutes and scored 13 points against a team with one prior victory that had already surrendered 33 or more points four times. Miami has won two straight, but is nonetheless just 25th in the league in passing with a weekly average of 231.3 yards - a number thats got wide receiver Mike Wallace, in the second year of a lucrative deal he signed when exiting Pittsburgh as a free agent, irritated. He caught two passes for 59 yards against the Jaguars and failed to score for the first time since Week 4. Its frustrating. It has got to change, he said. Were not going to get nowhere like that. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who completed 16-of-29 passes for 196 yards, a touchdown and an interception, agreed. He, by the way, has been sacked seven times in two games and has been curiously ineffective at home this season, completing barely 55 percent of his throws for 627 yards, five TDs and three interceptions in three games. It has to be better, he said. We have to get this corrected. Still, Miami has won the past seven matchups in the series that have occurred in South Florida, dating back to a classic divisional playoff game in 1982. Extending that streak, given Tannehills recent difficulties, could be a product of a ground game thats churning out 138 yards per week to rank sixth in the league. The Chargers have been gashed for 293 rush yards in losing two straight. You have to be able to understand that its not all bad when you lose and its not all good when you win, San Diego linebacker Dwight Freeney said. Its about the team that is standing at the end. We are going to play a Dolphins team that does a lot of things. To be fair, the Chargers have shown signs of doing a lot of things, too. San Diego lost in Week 1, but then reeled off five straight victories before skidding back to 5-3 with consecutive losses to Kansas City and Denver. Quarterback Philip Rivers averaged better thaan 300 yards and had 14 touchdowns to a single interception in the five-game skein, but has been picked off twice while the average has dipped to 228.dddddddddddd5 yards against the Chiefs and Broncos. In two starts at Miami, his completion percentage is eight points lower than his career average. The Dolphins, too, are best in the league at limiting yards per pass attempt - 10.2. This is a 16-game season, its a 16-round fight and weve won five and lost three, Rivers said. Its one big game is the way I see it. Weve had a couple rounds where weve got knocked around a little bit. We have to regroup and try to go get round number nine at Miami. San Diegos defense could use the same rallying cry. The Chargers have allowed 11 more points and 105 more yards, on average, across the last three games than they had in their initial five. And theyll enter the game with the Dolphins perhaps without the services of cornerback Jason Verrett and linebacker Jahleel Addae, both of whom are questionable. Addae suffered a concussion after a pair of hits last week, the second of which saw him convulsing after helmet-to-helmet contact. It hasnt been our best ball. I know we are kind of banged up, Freeney said. But this is the NFL and the other team doesnt care. So we have to find a way to somehow put our best product out there. WHAT TO WATCH FOR Lock Up the Gates Canton-bound tight end Antonio Gates is having another spectacular season for the Chargers - 32 catches, 417 yards and nine touchdowns - so bottling him up will be a task for Miami. His shadow for the day could be safety Rashad Jones, though it wouldnt be shocking to see the Dolphins employ a cadre of Gates-related blankets including linebackers Kelvin Sheppard and Koa Misi, too. Beating the Replacements For a funk-enduring quarterback like Tannehill, the matchup with the Chargers is well-timed. San Diego could be without a pair of starting cornerbacks in the aforementioned Verrett and Brandon Flowers, whos sustained a concussion. Whether its them or someone else, a major challenge will be making sure this isnt the week that the Tannehill-Wallace connection finds its sea legs. OVERALL ANALYSIS For all the issues each team has faced, theyve both got a lot of weapons, too, and its no accident that theyre a combined 9-6 through 15 games. Expect both Rivers and Tannehill to return to something approaching form, and anticipate the game to come down to a late-stage situation in which one guy makes a decisive play. The guess here is that its Rivers and that the Chargers will escape on the road. Sports Network predicted outcome: Chargers 24, Dolphins 20 ' ' '