Wednesday afternoon, one of the MLB’s most storied rivalries will wrap up another installment as the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals clash at Busch Stadium.
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Randal Grichuk’s walkoff homer in the ninth inning lifted the Cardinals to a 4-3 win Monday and evened the season series at two games apiece.
Hammel has beaten the Cardinals twice this season, allowing two runs in 13 1/3 innings.
David Freese hit a long two-run home run to cap Pittsburgh’s four-run fifth.
The Cardinals made it a one-run game with Matt Holliday’s three-run homer in the sixth and Matt Adam’s solo shot in the seventh.
Pitching on the eve of his 43rd birthday, Bartolo Colon (4-3) allowed one run and five hits in seven efficient innings. “We just can’t keep putting up six-run innings and expect to stay in the game”, Matheny said during one of the tensest postgame news conferences of his time as manager. Pirates trainer Todd Tomczyk said Vogelsong, 38, was “in good spirits” but added that doctors would not be able to determine the extent of the damage around the former Giant’s left eye until the swelling subsided.
Over on the Cardinals’ side, we’ll be getting another look at right-hander Carlos Martinez on Wednesday. Bryant provided the winning cushion with a three-run homer in the sixth that loomed large after the Cardinals rallied for four runs in the sixth and seventh innings after Arrieta was relieved. The right-hander was a 17-game victor last season and the NL championship series MVP as a rookie in 2013, but this season has a 5.04 ERA.
Ivan Nova (3-2) threw well again but lost for the first time in four starts since moving from the bullpen to the rotation.
MARLINS 4, RAYS 3 Cole Gillespie had a late tiebreaking RBI single, Marcell Ozuna drove in two runs and visiting Miami beat Tampa Bay. The rest of his start was about Cardinals contact and Cubs luck. A home run here. Wacha is 0-3 with an 8.84 ERA in his last four outings in the rivalry, including allowing four runs in 4 1/3 innings of an 8-6 loss in Game 3 of last year’s NLDS. The runs were unearned because of a two-out throwing error by La Stella.
“When it’s 6-1 in the third inning, I feel like we’re going to win that game no matter what”, Arrieta said. Lester is 4-0 with a 1.76 ERA in six starts against the Phillies. It’s been an up-and-down road this year for Martinez, who has made eight starts with a 4-4 record, a 3.56 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP in 48 innings. He gave up three hits and two walks in a 108-pitch effort Tuesday.
With two outs in the eighth, Bud Norris (1-6) walked Jonathan Villar, who stole second base. Bryant is a capable defender, and Matt Szczur can play out there as well, but when Jorge Soler is in that position, all bets are off, and the Cubs do have one weak spot in their lineup to worry about there. Correa snapped an 0-for-15 skid with a single into shallow center that scored Kemp and ended a four-game losing streak for the Astros.
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Los Angeles had leads of 1-0 and 4-1 after its first two at-bats, but Hector Santiago (3-3) quickly gave those up each time. Cubs Chris Bryant top off the Cubs runs with a three-run blast over the left wall against Cardinals very strong reliever, Seung Hwan Oh.
