ST. LOUIS — Lance Lynn struck out a career-high 12 to stay tied for the major league lead in wins and Carlos Beltran hit his NL-best 19th home run Wednesday night, sending the St. Louis Cardinals to a 1-0 victory over the White Sox that ended Chicago’s eight-game road winning streak.
Paul Konerko grounded into a game-ending double play with runners on first and third against Jason Motte.
Beltran homered in the third inning off Jake Peavy (6-2) and had three of the four hits for the Cardinals, who have scored only seven runs in the last five games and totaled a single run for the third straight game. They’ve won just five of 14.
Lynn (10-2) allowed three hits in 7 1-3 innings and joined Mets knuckleballer R.A. Dickey as the only 10-game winners in the majors. Dickey threw a one-hitter at Tampa Bay earlier in the night.
The 25-year-old Cardinals right-hander, who replaced injured Chris Carpenter in the rotation and is in his first full big league season, topped his previous career best of 11 strikeouts while going six innings during his last start at Houston.
Beltran has been a force batting second, hitting 11 homers from that spot in 20 starts compared with seven long balls at cleanup in 32 games. All but five of his homers have come batting left-handed.
Peavy worked seven innings and gave up four hits with six strikeouts and two walks in the hard-luck loss. He had entered an American League-best 3-0 with a 1.75 ERA on the road and had won six in a row away from home with a 1.44 ERA overall dating to Aug. 7, 2011.
Marc Rzepczynski got pinch-hitter Adam Dunn to ground sharply into a double play to end the eighth and Motte finished for his 12th save in 15 chances. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny went right back to Rzepczynski, a night after Dunn homered in the eighth inning to help the White Sox pull away for a 6-1 victory.
Dunn, a pregame lineup scratch due to a slightly sprained ankle, has grounded into just two double plays.
Matheny gave Lynn a vote of confidence when he let him bat with two outs and none on in the seventh. Lynn struck out Alexei Ramirez for the third time to open the eighth, then was lifted after Orlando Hudson singled up the middle.
Lynn’s strongest save came in the fifth when Alex Rios was stranded at third after a leadoff triple. Lynn struck out three of the next four, fanning Peavy after a two-out intentional walk to Hudson.
