ST. LOUIS _ Left-hander Cole Hamels rebounded from a rough stretch by pitching seven innings of two-hit ball Sunday.
But Hamels was outdueled by Adam Wainwright, who no-hit the Cubs through 5 1/3 innings and received defensive help from second baseman Kolten Wong in the eighth inning to complete a masterful 126-pitch performance.
Wong made a leaping catch to rob Anthony Rizzo of a game-tying hit as the Cardinals held on for a 2-1 victory and complete a three-game sweep of the Cubs at Busch Stadium.
With the loss, the Cubs (31-26) were swept in a three-game series for the first time since early April at Atlanta as they concluded a 1-5 trip. They've lost eight of their last 10 games.
Wainwright walked a season-high seven but kept the Cubs' batters off-balance with an array of pitches to the lower quadrants of the strike zone and finished with eight strikeouts.
The Cubs' lack of clutch hitting surfaced from start to finish, as they stranded two runners at second in the first two innings.
Their most promising opportunity occurred in the eighth as Wainwright started the inning at 108 pitches with a 1-0 lead. Daniel Descalso drew a walk with one out and moved to second on a hit by Kyle Schwarber.
But Kris Bryant, who snapped Wainwright's no-hit bid with a single in the sixth, struck out for the third time on a 91 mph fastball. Rizzo followed with a soft liner to right, but Wong, already positioned in shallow right, sprinted hard and was able to time his leap perfectly.
In the ninth, the Cubs put the tying run at first with one out, but mustered only one run as Addison Russell grounded into a fielder's choice and David Bote grounded to short.
The Cubs finished with one hit in their last 34 at-bats with runners in scoring position.
Hamels' only blemish occurred with one out in the fifth when he allowed a walk to Jedd Gyorko, who got a big jump and stole second. The throw from Willson Contreras sailed into center field, thus allowing Gyorko to advance to third and score on a sacrifice fly by Wong.
Hamels, who hadn't pitched more than five innings in his three previous starts, pitched seven innings of two-hit ball.
The Cardinals added an insurance run in the eighth on a single by pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter off left-hander Mike Montgomery.
Javier Baez returned to shortstop after missing Saturday's 7-4 loss because of recurring discomfort in his right heel.
"I talked to him after the game last night and he said, 'I want to play,' " said manager Joe Maddon, who replied: " 'OK. You want to play third?' "
Baez: " 'No, I want to play shortstop.' "
"So we'll just keep a close eye on him," Maddon said. "I know it's not 100 percent, but that's just who he is. I'll just watch him. He wants to play. He's ready to go. so we'll do that."
Baez moved well defensively but went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
