Diving Play Helps End Uggla’s Hit Streak

“That’s more games than I thought I would ever have,” he said after going 0 for 3 with a sacrifice fly.

Uggla’s streak was the longest in the major leagues since 2006, when Philadelphia’s Chase Utley had a 35-game streak. The Phillies’ Jimmy Rollins had a 38-game streak that began in 2005 and carried into 2006.

Uggla’s best chance to extend the streak came in the fifth inning. Second baseman Darwin Barney made a diving catch of Uggla’s fly ball in shallow right field. Barney was fully extended when he made the catch in front of right fielder Tyler Colvin.

“I wasn’t even looking at him,” Uggla said of Barney. “I was looking at Colvin and I was like, Oh, it’s going to drop in front of him. And the next thing you know, Barney comes flying through.”

During the streak, Uggla raised his batting average to .231 from .173 and had 15 homers and 32 runs batted in.

The Cubs rallied from a 4-0 deficit for their fourth straight series win despite striking out 18 times. Chicago has won 11 of 14 games.

Albert Pujols hit the longest home run at six-year-old Busch Stadium — estimated at 465 feet — in a four-run first inning, and St. Louis overcame an injury to starter Edwin Jackson with stellar bullpen work against Colorado.

Pujols’s home run was his National League-leading 29th. It bettered Lance Berkman’s 452-foot homer off the Reds’ Edinson Volquez on July 5.

Jackson grabbed the back of his right leg with one out in the sixth inning and left the game. The team said it was a cramp.