Miguel Cairo hit a tiebreaking RBI triple to highlight a four-run third inning and lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-3 victory over the Cubs, ending their winning streak at four games.

Soriano hit a two-run, game-winning homer in the eighth inning in the first game, a 3-2 Chicago win, and belted a two-run shot in the second inning of the nightcap. He's now 8-for-47 (.170) with five homers in his last 10 games.

"We took one from them in the first game, and they took one from us in the second game," Chicago's Ryan Theriot said. "One or two different bounces and we get them both."

With the split and Milwaukee's 5-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday, the Cubs now have a one-game lead in the National League Central.

It was a sour ending to a long day. The two teams started the first game at 12:12 p.m. CT and finished a little before 10 p.m.

"St. Louis was probably as fatigued as we were," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "It's not an easy day. I don't know why Major League Baseball allows these type of doubleheaders at the end of the year, I really don't. That's not for me to decide. Play a game at noon, then sit around all day and play again at night -- if you're going to play a doubleheader, play a doubleheader and forget about it."

Mark DeRosa took advantage of the long delay between games.

"It's draining, but it wasn't too bad," DeRosa said. "A lot of guys like to play one [game] and go right into the next. We were able to regroup and relax for three or four hours, and some guys were taking naps or getting extra hitting in, so I don't think it was that bad."

Sean Marshall was eager to make his first start since Aug. 31, and arrived at Busch Stadium around 10:30 a.m. for the night game. It may have been his last start of the year. The left-hander was pulled after giving up four runs -- two earned -- on six hits and two walks over 2 2/3 innings. Because of off-days, the Cubs are expected to go to a four-man rotation for the final 13 games and will start Carlos Zambrano on Tuesday and Ted Lilly on Wednesday on short rest.

"I felt really good," Marshall said. "That's one of the best days I felt all year. I felt strong, I felt fresh. I left some balls over the plate when I needed to get them down."

For the Chicago fans in the sellout crowd of 45,894 looking for positives, Kerry Wood struck out two in one inning of relief. He also pitched in the first game, picking up the win, his first as a reliever. And rookie Kevin Hart threw two scoreless innings in relief.

There were some negatives, too.

"We took one from them in the first game, and they took one from us in the second game. One or two different bounces and we get them both."

-- Ryan Theriot

The Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the first against Joel Pineiro (5-3) on an RBI single by Aramis Ramirez, one of three straight hits. Cliff Floyd then walked to load the bases, and DeRosa flew out to center, with Derrek Lee trying to score from third on the play, but he was thrown out at home by Jim Edmonds.

Left fielder So Taguchi threw out Theriot at home in the second as he tried to score from second on Marshall's single. Soriano did his part, launching an 0-1 pitch to straightaway center for his 27th home run and second in as many games to give the Cubs a 3-0 lead.

"The first one, you credit Jim Edmonds," DeRosa said of the throws. "Both of them, Taguchi and Edmonds, made great throws. Stuff happens. We were aggressive on the basepaths, and it didn't work out."

If he had to do it over again, third-base coach Mike Quade might have held Theriot up.

"Rarely do you get through the full season without looking back on several decisions you made, and that's one of them," Quade said. "You go back and look at it and say, 'Maybe you were over-aggressive in that situation.'

"I'd rather be doing a lot of this [waving runners in] than this [stopping them]," Quade said.

Ryan Ludwick struck out with one out in the Cardinals' third but was safe at first as the third strike got away from catcher Jason Kendall, and his throw pulled Lee off the bag. Edmonds walked, and both he and Ludwick scored on Yadier Molina's double. Scott Spiezio tied the game with an RBI single to center, and one out later, Cairo hit an RBI triple to give the Cards a 4-3 lead.

"Bottom line is I didn't make that throw in the third inning, and it changed the momentum and they won," Kendall said, shouldering responsibility. "I had to step over the bat, but whatever. The bottom line is making a timely throw. The momentum changed, and it is what it is.

"That's a play you make 999 times out of 1,000," Kendall said.

"We had a couple guys thrown out at home plate," Piniella said, "and had a couple opportunities, and then we did nothing really for the rest of the ballgame. That [third] inning started with the errant throw to first base. [Marshall] really didn't have real good command. He deserved better."

Ramirez wouldn't offer an explanation for a brief exchange of words with St. Louis reliever Russ Springer, who got the Cubs third baseman to pop up and end the eighth inning.

"I'm not going to talk about Springer," Ramirez said. "I don't even know what happened, so I'm not going to talk about it."

Neither Piniella nor St. Louis manager Tony La Russa was sure what happened either.

"My guess is Ramirez was yelling something about popping the ball up or something, and Springer probably told him to make a left and go to the dugout," La Russa said.

The two teams will close the season series on Sunday.

"Every game has been nip and tuck," Piniella said. "Let's hope the nip-and-tuck game goes our way tomorrow."

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.