Yu Darvish struck out 11 batters in seven stellar innings and Willson Contreras had four RBIs as the Chicago Cubs defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 on Friday in Chicago. Japan's Darvish, who says he is in the best pitching form of his career, dominated the Cardinals' batters while holding them to just one hit. "The way he commands the strike zone with his secondary pitches is some of the best I've ever seen," said Cubs manager David Ross. Asked to compare his performance this season with seasons past Darvish said, "Three times better." Darvish improved to 7-1 on the season and didn't issue a walk for the first-place Cubs, who dropped St. Louis into a second place tie with Milwaukee in the Central Division. They are both 4.5 games behind the Cubs. Cardinals' batter Matt Carpenter had the only hit against Darvish, who has allowed no more than one run in each of his past seven starts. He has held St. Louis to two runs in 13 innings in two wins this season. Darvish retired the first 15 Cardinals he faced until Carpenter belted a home run over the right field wall at the start of the sixth. Rowan Wick took over for Darvish for the eighth inning. Cardinals starting pitcher Jack Flaherty lasted just 2 2/3 innings before being pulled. gph/tom