“They hit a lot of pop ups, a lot of soft contact”.
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Randal Grichuck hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the ninth to lift St. Louis over Chicago.
The pitcher went above and beyond in helping end the Chicago Cubs’ first three-game losing streak of the season with a 12-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.
Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jake Arrieta throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday, May 25, 2016, in St. Louis.
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny had no interest in replaying the ninth.
“They were able to do some things offensively, have some extended at-bats and put some good swings on balls and make my job hard”, said Arrieta, whose last loss on the road came at the same venue more than a year ago. “We’re never out of it, as was shown today”.
Matt Adams tied the score with a two-run homer in the seventh for St. Louis’ major league-leading ninth pinch-hit homer of the season.
Instead of Russell making his big-league debut and trying to learn a new position on the fly, the Cubs have second baseman Ben Zobrist, who will turn 35 on Thursday and is still playing at an All-Star level.
MARLINS 7, RAYS 6 Ichiro Suzuki had four hits, including a single in host Miami’s two-run eighth inning, and the Marlins rallied past Tampa Bay.
Trevor Rosenthal got Anthony Rizzo to hit a soft liner to the left side. He dived, gloved the ball and then tagged third for the final out as Fowler, who clearly thought the ball would fall safely, had headed for home.
There’s no way I can pick against Arrieta here. “I think it’s a matter of finding a rhythm and control”.
Wednesday’s result also shows how hard it is to put together a run like the one Arrieta and the Cubs are now enjoying.
Cardinals’ Matt Carpenter, hitless in 16 at-bats against Arrieta, was out of the lineup Wednesday because he was with his wife, who went into labor before the game with their first child.
Arrieta seems to be as great on the road as he is at home, so he should be able to help the Cubs win this game.
Michael Wacha (2-5) absorbed his fifth straight loss and hasn’t won in six starts, dating back to April 23. “That’s something I felt like earlier in the year I struggled with, hooking balls”.
“Sometimes in my position when they’ve pushed couple across, they get ducks on the pond, you have to limit those innings and keep your team in the game and we kept it close enough so (Adams) could make a big swing and (Grichuk) could make a big swing”, Wainwright said. “Then it was ‘game over.’ It was kind of a mess”.
The second game featured two pitchers called up from Triple-A to make the start, and Johnson exhausted. Next stop for the Cardinals, Washington D.C.to face the Nationals.
Lackey replaced Wainwright as the ace of the Cardinals’ staff previous year when the latter was sidelined for four months with an Achilles tendon tear.
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The Cubs backed up Arrieta with 10 hits and their second six-run inning in as many games, erasing a 1-0 deficit as 11 men batted and battered Carlos Martinez.
