Scott Rolen hit a tie-breaking homer in the eighth inning off an exuberant Carlos Zambrano, sending the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-4 win over the Cubs on Monday night in Chicago.
The Cardinals homered three times and won for the 12th time in 14 games this month to increase their NL Central lead over the Cubs to nine games.
Zambrano (9-5) was ejected in the eighth inning after hitting Jim Edmonds with a pitch right after Rolen's two-run shot — the second time Zambrano hit Edmonds. Because the benches had been warned, Cubs manager Dusty Baker was also ejected.
Chris Carpenter (10-4) got his 10th victory and fourth of the season against the Cubs, allowing 12 hits and four runs in eight innings.
Jason Isringhausen pitched the ninth for his 23rd save in 27 chances.
Zambrano also drilled Edmonds in the first. And Edmonds angered the young Cubs All-Star when he stood at the plate and admired his long two-run homer in the fourth inning.
As Edmonds neared home plate, Zambrano — known for his emotional displays on the mound — began yelling in the direction of the Cardinals' star.
Seconds later, Cubs catcher Michael Barrett began jawing with someone in the Cardinals' dugout and had to be restrained by home plate umpire Joe Brinkman.
The benches emptied briefly, but order was restored quickly and no punches were thrown.
As he walked off mound after retiring the side, Zambrano punched the air. And after striking Edmonds out on three pitches in the sixth, Zambrano wagged his finger at Edmonds as he walked away from the plate.f+u
With the game tied at 3, Tony Womack walked to start the eighth and made it to third on a passed ball and a sacrifice. After Albert Pujols fanned, major league RBI leader Rolen hit his 20th homer of the season, giving him 86 RBIs.
When Zambrano hit Edmonds with the next pitch, Brinkman immediately ejected him.
Sammy Sosa grounded out in the eighth and as he made his way to the dugout stopped at the mound and said something to Carpenter.
Moises Alou then hit a homer to bring the Cubs within 5-4.
Edgar Renteria's solo shot put the Cards up 3-0 in the fifth but the Cubs rallied to tie in the bottom of the inning on Mark Grudzielanek's sacrifice fly and a two-run single by Alou.
Cards' right fielder Reggie Sanders threw out Aramis Ramirez at the plate in the sixth after he'd doubled and tried to score on Barrett's bloop single.
BRAVES 4, PHILLIES 2: At Atlanta, Mike Hampton (5-8) pitched seven strong innings after another rough start, John Smoltz pitched two innings for his 18th save and the Braves held off Philadelphia to take over sole possession of first place in the NL East for the first time this season.
EXPOS 6, PIRATES 2: At Pittsburgh, Terrmel Sledge drove in two runs with a groundball just past first base during a four-run seventh inning and Montreal halted Pittsburgh's 10-game home winning streak, the Pirates' longest since winning 24 straight in 1978. Sledge's grounder off John Grabow (0-4) to Randall Simon appeared as if it would end the inning. But Sledge hustled down the line to beat Simon to the bag for a single.
MARLINS 6, METS 5: At New York, pinch-hitter Lenny Harris came through with a go-ahead single in the ninth inning, spoiling Scott Erickson's bid for his first major-league win in nearly two years. Miguel Cabrera tied it with an RBI single off closer Braden Looper (2-2), who gave up four straight hits in the ninth. Shane Spencer hit a three-run homer for the Mets, who built a 5-2 lead for Erickson in his first big league appearance since Aug. 31, 2002, with Baltimore.
REDS 8, BREWERS 4: At Cincinnati, Wily Mo Pena hit his sixth homer in his last eight games, and also had a run-scoring single and a double. Right-hander Aaron Harang (6-2) won his second straight start against the Brewers, fighting through control lapses while protecting an early lead. The Reds batted around in the first inning for four runs off right-hander Ben Hendrickson (0-2).
DODGERS 7, ASTROS 6: At Houston, Milton Bradley and Shawn Green hit back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning to give the Dodgers their seventh straight win. Adrian Beltre hit his career-high 24th homer for the Dodgers, who have won 13 of their last 14 games. Giovanni Carrera (2-0) allowed two runs and two hits in 1 1/3 innings of relief for the victory, and Eric Gagne threw just eight pitches in a perfect ninth for his 26th save in 27 opportunities.
PADRES 13, ROCKIES 6: At Denver, Ismael Valdez pitched five-plus innings and hit a two-run double, Mark Loretta had four hits and three RBIs, and San Diego set a season high for runs in a rout of Colorado.
GIANTS 6, DIAMONDBACKS 1: At Phoenix, Brett Tomko pitched into the eighth inning, and the Giants made up for the absence of Barry Bonds with baserunning and timely hitting.
The slugger sat out the game after having a root canal Monday morning, but the Giants won for the sixth time in eight games to stay 2 1/2 games behind NL West leader Los Angeles.