Michael Wacha pitched into the seventh inning for his first victory in almost two months and the Cardinals waited out Jake Arrieta before roughing up Chicago’s bullpen in a 7-2 victory over the Cubs on Wednesday.
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“It’s adjusting the game plan slightly”, Arrieta said. “I was pretty happy about it”.
Wacha (3-7) allowed two hits until rookie Willson Contreras’ one-out, two-run homer in the seventh ended his day.
He also beat Cubs ace Jake Arrieta, the reigning Cy Young Award victor who took the loss after a season low-tying five-inning effort.
The result completed a three game sweep for the Cardinals at Wrigley Field – the first time they’ve done that since 1988 – which trimmed the Cubs’ lead in the National League Central division below double figures.
“In contrast to the preceding homestand in which the Cardinals lost all five games, the last three by one run, the little things seemed to go the Cardinals” way in this series.
Jeff Gordon previews today’s game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs at 1:20 p.m. (FSM) at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
All it took for the Cardinals to relocate the style of game they’ve misplaced so often this season was returning to the place they left last season. A hard-luck streak of seven losses and three no-decisions followed.
St. Louis broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning when Arrieta loaded the bases with two walks and a single to Aledmys Diaz. Almora Jr. grounds to the second baseman to first.
Contreras also made two nice defensive plays in the ninth, throwing out Matt Carpenter when he tried to steal second and using a sweep tag to get Diaz when he was thrown out at the plate.
“I think when you look at the last couple of wins for us here in a tough city … the bigger the buzz the better”, Wainwright said.
Arrieta said it’s an approach he’s seen from more than one team in recent starts – contributing to three of his last six starts lasting just five innings – and called it an “easy fix” that’s probably as simple as where he throws his fastball.
The Cardinals made it 3-0 with none out in the sixth and Justin Grimm working in relief.
“There are no rules”, Maddon said.
Kolten Wong singled to center, putting runners on first and second.
As they looked to break free of.500 this season, the Cardinals have won games often where one dimension is playing well. Kris Bryant (5 for 13 with a double, triple, homer and four RBIs), Jorge Soler (3 for 6), Javier Baez (2 for 5, two doubles) and Ben Zobrist (2 for 5, double) have also hit well against him.
“It’s just not allowing me to fall into the trap, the trap of either being content or being overwhelmed”, Matheny said. “That pays a toll not just on a pitcher but on the defense”.
– Rays 2015 All-Star Chris Archer endured another bad first inning en route to becoming the first pitcher this season to have 10 losing decisions. Coghlan reached on a single and moved to second on a walk to Jason Heyward.
Let’s hope the Cubs keep hitting him like that this afternoon. He has allowed two runs or fewer in 11 of 14 starts this season to stay in the Cy Young race with Clayton Kershaw and Stephen Strasburg.
Concepcion struck out Brandon Moss on five pitches to to end the inning. He was replaced by right-hander Seth Maness.
Cardinals C Yadier Molina could be starting with an all-Cubs infield at the All-Star Game.
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Texas’ Cole Hamels struck out eight in six solid innings to guide the Rangers to a 6-4 win at Cincinnati.
