Cardinals 6, Cubs 3: Kyle Lohse recorded his 16th victory and Pete Kozma hit his first major-league homer as visiting St. Louis won the rubber game of the weekend series.

St. Louis won for the sixth time in seven games. The Cardinals maintained their 2 1/2-game lead over Milwaukee in the race for the second wild-card spot in the National League.

Lohse (16-3) allowed three runs on five hits with one walk and five strikeouts in six innings. Kozma provided needed breathing room in the sixth, hitting a 2-1 pitch from Chicago starter Justin Germano (2-9) over the wall in left-center field for a 4-2 lead.

Alfonso Soriano finished with three hits, including his 31st homer in the sixth to bring the Cubs within 4-3. Germano surrendered four runs on 10 hits with one walk and three strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.

Allen Craig doubled home two runs for St. Louis in the third and finished 3-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs. Kozma added two hits and drove in a run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly. Jason Motte pitched the ninth for his NL-leading 40th save.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Motte is one save ahead of Atlanta’s Craig Kimbrel for the NL lead. … The Cubs have lost six of their last seven contests. … St. Louis concludes its final road trip of the season with three games at Houston, starting Monday. Chicago begins its last road trip of 2012 with a three-game series at Colorado that begins Tuesday.