St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs

Suzuki and Assad power playoff-bound Cubs to a 2-0 win over the Cardinals

Suzuki hit five homers and drove in 10 runs in his last four games. He raised his season totals to 32 homers and a team-leading 103 RBI.

Moises Ballesteros added an RBI single for the Cubs (92-70), who finished as the top NL wild card. Chicago will host San Diego in the first round of the playoffs. Game 1 of the best-of-three series is Tuesday.

The Cardinals, at 78-84, finished in fourth place in the NL Central and out of the playoffs for the third straight season.

Assad (4-1) pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing three hits and striking out six while walking one. Michael Soroka got two outs, then Jordan Wicks scattered three hits over the final three innings for his first save.

Kyle Leahy opened for the Cardinals with three scoreless innings, allowing one hit. John King (2-1), the second of four St. Louis relievers allowed one run while getting four outs.

Suzuki lined a solo homer off King to the left-center bleachers leading off the bottom of the fifth. The Cubs added an unearned run in the seventh when Ballesteros singled and scored Kevin Alcantara from second.

Key moment With a Thomas Saggese on second in the ninth, Wicks struck out Jordan Walker and Jimmy Crooks to end the game.

Key stat Suzuki joined Shohei Ohtani (three times) and Hideki Matsui with the fifth 30-homer, 100-RBI season by a Japanese-born player in the majors.

Up next The Cubs host the San Diego Padres in the best-of-three NL Wild Card series beginning Tuesday.

How can I watch St. Louis Cardinals vs. Chicago Cubs?

• TV Channel: Cardinals at Cubs 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
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