The St. Louis Cardinals are further down than usual in the NL Central standings.
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Randal Grichuk hit a grand slam to cap a six-run burst in the eighth inning and the St. Louis Cardinals stopped the Cubs’ 11-game winning streak, beating Chicago 8-4 on Saturday.
The Cubs were leading 3-1 in the series finale when Lackey left, but the Cardinals rallied for a 6-4 win.
Travis Wood took over and allowed a walk, a single and the an RBI double by Grichuk.
The Cubs have lost two straight after their 11-game winning streak was snapped Saturday.
“Great way to bounce back”, Piscotty said.
“We kind of know what our role is going forward”, he added. And if the Cardinals claim one of the wild card spots, we could see a divisional series rematch in October.
The teams wrap up a four-game series Sunday night at Wrigley Field.
The Cardinals have a 7-6 series edge, but the teams still have six games left against each other: Three on September 12-14 in St. Louis and three on September 23-25 at Wrigley Field.
Nationals 7, Braves 6: Daniel Murphy hit a two-run homer and drove in four runs, and rookie Reynaldo Lopez pitched seven innings for his first major league win to lead Washington. Chicago doesn’t consider the injury serious.
How much credit Lackey deserves for both developments is debatable, but suffice it to say the Cubs are happy he’s here and not there.
At one point, Lackey characterized the shoulder soreness as “an old thing” before repeating he would be fine and blaming the soreness on an extra bullpen session he tends to throw after each start.
“I don’t find myself looking ahead because we haven’t done anything yet”, Jason Heyward said. He just didn’t have his normal command.
“They are a really good team with good hitters”, Rondon said.
Corey Dickerson and Nick Franklin each hit a three-run homers while Logan Forsythe added a solo blast for the Rays, who reached double digits in runs for the eighth time this season.
BLUE JAYS 4, ASTROS 2: Russell Martin hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the sixth inning, Aaron Sanchez pitched seven innings to get his first win in his last three starts and Toronto won at home, stopping Houston’s winning streak at four.
Piscotty hit his 17th homer off setup man Hector Rondon (2-3), who entered with a 3-1 lead in his first appearance since August 2 following a triceps injury. Joe Smith relieved and Grichuk hit his slam.
Said Lackey: “When you have the kind of lead we do, you sort of have leeway to do some things”. “We’re just going to wait on it”.
Matt Bowman (2-4) got three outs in the seventh in relief of starter Mike Leake for the win.
Returning after being sidelined since August 2 with a right triceps issue, setup man Hector Rondon gave up four hits, including Stephen Piscotty’s go-ahead three-run homer.
Cardinals closer Seung Hwan Oh got the final five outs, including three strikeouts in the ninth, for his 11th save in 12 chances.
St. Louis third baseman Jhonny Peralta made a diving stop, rolled and threw to first in one motion on Addison Russell’s sharp grounder in the fourth.
Trea Turner had three hits, including a homer and one of Washington’s three triples. Anthony Rizzo (.286, 70 Rs, 24 HRs, 82 RBIs, 3 SBs) went 1 for 4 yesterday.
Chicago took the opening two games of this series, while St. Louis took Saturday’s game.
“That’s who he is”, manager Joe Maddon said last week.
“It’s not bad”, Maddon said. “I just don’t know yet”. “Kevin’s had a lot of work and that was precautionary more than anything else”, Matheny said.
In games where it is the underdog, St. Louis has an 18-20 record and an overall money line of -447.
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Jesse joined ESPN Chicago in September 2009 and covers the Chicago Cubs for ESPNChicago.com and ESPN Radio 1000. RHP Trevor Cahill (1-3, 3.07) is expected to come off the DL (right knee tendinitis) and start in the opener against Brewers RHP Matt Garza (4-4, 4.83).
