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Cubs end Cardinals eight-game winning streak behind Jon Lester

Mark Townsend
·Yahoo Sports Contributor

Take a look around the league with Big League Stew's daily wrap up. We'll hit on all of the biggest moments from the day that you may have missed, while providing highlights, photos and interesting stats.

One of the primary responsibilities of a major-league ace is to end losing streaks before they get out of hand, and before the team gets buried in the standings.

With that in mind, Jon Lester was exactly what the Cubs signed him to be over the winter, holding the red hot St. Louis Cardinals to four runs (one earned) over seven innings in a Cubs 6-5 victory.

The win snapped the Cubs season-long four-game losing streak. Just as importantly, it also snapped the Cardinals eight-game winning streak, allowing the Cubs to stay within 5 1/2 games of the division leaders.

Offensively, the Cubs jumped on Cardinals' starter Lance Lynn early, plating two runs in the first on RBI singles from Kris Bryant and Starlin Castro. Anthony Rizzo added a solo home run in the third and a two-run double in the fifth to create some separation against the Cardinals relentless attack.

The Cardinals never led, but in four different innings trimmed Chicago's lead to one run. In the ninth, they put the tying run on third with one out, but Cubs closer Hector Rondon recovered to retire Matt Reynolds and Jhonny Peralta — who earlier launched a 447-foot home run — to end the game.

The two teams will wrap up their very competitive and entertaining four-game series on Thursday. Jake Arrieta will go for the Cubs. The Cardinals are countering with veteran John Lackey.

RANGERS COMPLETE STUNNING SWEEP OF ASTROS

Two years ago that headline would have made zero sense to baseball fans. In 2015, it's the results that make no sense after the Rangers completed a three-game series sweep at Minute Maid Park with a 11-3 victory on Wednesday night.

The Rangers started the series by rallying late to snap Houston's 10-game winning streak. On Tuesday, they received a dominant performance from former Astro Wandy Rodriguez. Then came Wednesday's capper, which ran the lopsided series score to 20-5.

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These are the same Rangers that started 8-16 and were desperate enough for offense to reacquire Josh Hamilton less than two weeks ago. These are the same Astros that couldn't lose on a road trip through Seattle, Oakland and San Diego.

Coupled with the news that George Springer suffered a concussion on Tuesday, this is the first real adversity or trouble the Astros have faced this season. The road won't get any easier, either. They're about to begin a four-game series in Anaheim against the Los Angeles Angels, who are coming off consecutive walk-off wins against Seattle.

It might be time we learn where the 2015 Astros truly stand.

MARK BUEHRLE EARNS RARE WIN AGAINST YANKEES 

How awful has Mark Buehrle's luck and performance been against the New York Yankees?

This awful.

Some would look at that and cringe. Others would simply say he's due. On this occasion, the latter would have been correct as Buehrle held the first-place Yankees' offense to one run on six hits over five innings in the Blue Jays 5-1 win.

Buehrle's only other victory against New York came back on April 10, 2004, a span of 11 years and one month. In between, Buehrle started against them 17 times, posting an 0-12 record with a 7.27 ERA.

Indeed, he was due, but he owes a lot to Robert Osuna, Aaron Loup and Brett Cecil, who collectively held New York to one hit over four innings of relief. And to Russell Martin, Kevin Pillar and Chris Colabello, who combined for nine hits and five runs scored offensively.

DIAMONDBACKS SWEEP ROCKIES IN DOUBLEHEADER

Like many baseball fans, Mother Nature didn't seem all that interested in watching this week's Diamondbacks-Rockies series in Denver. Monday and Tuesday's scheduled games were both postponed due to rain, but she did spare them a long enough window to play two on Wednesday,

That turned out to be good news for Diamondbacks and a pretty lousy experience for the Rockies, as Arizona swept the doubleheader with easy 13-7 and 5-1 wins.

It was a particularly lousy day for Colorado's game one starter Tyler Matzek, who lasted just two-plus innings and managed to walk six batters. Ideally, the game one starter eats some innings and conserves the bullpen. Here, Matzek could not hit his target to save his life.

Ouch.

Mark Trumbo, Aaron Hill and Yasmany Tomas each drove in at least three runs in the opener. In the nightcap, Paul Goldschmidt paced the offense with a solo home run and RBI single. Josh Collmenter and Robbie Ray picked up the wins as Arizona's starters.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!