That means the team has the chance to clinch at home on Thursday night when the host the Brewers at Wrigley Field. Anthony Rizzo hit a pair of home runs and Lester pitched eight dominant innings as the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-0 on Wednesday to clinch at least a wild-card playoff berth. The Nationals have won five of six.
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Maddon said that during his Tampa Bay days he’d watch Lester in a Red Sox uniform pumping 95 or 96 miles per hour fastball. “The sooner, the better, so that we can make our appropriate plans going forward and really set things up to make our best push”. Let’s hope we’re celebrating around the time the Giants and Cardinals are in the third inning. But David Ross has caught the southpaw for a while now and believes this is Lester at his peak.
Less than 48 hours after Kyle Hendricks nearly threw a no-hitter, Lester responded with his own Cy Young Award statement, accounting for eight scoreless innings and limiting a strong St. Louis lineup to three singles while finishing with eight strikeouts against one walk.
“What I’m seeing is much better command of what he’s doing”, Maddon said.
Garcia had lost his last four starts and has not looked particularly good lately, but the Cardinals chose to stay with him. “I was glad to give a quality start and go eight innings, considering how hot it was”. He struck out Chicago’s first three batters and breezed into the third inning.
It was only Lester’s fourth hit in 52 at-bats.
“My heart was pumping, but once you’re on the mound, you try to focus”, Reyes said. “I’d like to give up a double to drive in a run one time”.
Ross upped the lead to 3-0 in the fifth with his ninth homer, a 429-foot blast to center with Jason Heyward aboard. St. Louis will be home for holiday games on Memorial Day, May 29 vs. Los Angeles and Independence Day, July 4 vs. Miami. Garcia gave up two runs on three hits, including Fowler’s seventh leadoff homer of the season. That made him only the second Cubs lefthanded hitter with multiple 30-HR, 100-RBI seasons.
“His numbers speak for themselves”, Rizzo said of Williams.
“It’s been the Cardinals’ division for many years now, ever since I gotten over here”, Rizzo said. “It’s not easy to do, and I don’t take it for granted one bit”. Martinez allowed four runs in his six innings of work, snapping a personal four game win streak. He has been the team’s best starting pitcher by far, as veterans Adam Wainwright, Mike Leake and Jaime Garcia have all, for the most part, struggled.
They weren’t the only heroes for the day, but on a team of stars they stood out. “They deserve credit for having a good game”.
The Cardinals’ loss dropped them to 33-41 at Busch Stadium and assured them of their first losing season at home since 1999.
In upping its record to 76-68 and staying within a half-game of the New York Mets, a 4-3 victor in Washington, for the National League’s second wild-card spot, St. Louis tightroped through the Chicago lineup as Reyes made a series of clutch pitches.
St. Louis Cardinals players gather in dugout for a team cheer before a baseball a game between the Chicago Cubs Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
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It was as though the Cubs, who also have Jake Arrieta, said, “We’ll see your gobs of tradition and raise you more Cy Young candidates than you can shake a stick at”. RHP Trevor Rosenthal (right shoulder inflammation) could be activated from the DL tomorrow. He has been out since August 9 with shoulder inflammation. Chicago is on a pace to draw a franchise-record 658 walks, which would be eight more than it coaxed back in 1975. But the Birds? Even after getting walked all over in the rubber match of a three-game series here Wednesday, they’re a perfectly respectable 8-8.
