Yet St. Louis is still just a game behind the New York Mets for the second NL wild card and 1 1/2 games back of San Francisco for the first wild card, pending the outcome of those teams’ games Wednesday. “He elevated a changeup for me and I got it far enough out there to give us a run”.
Advertisement
This time around, the Cubs will not only be looking to finish off the Central Division race with over two weeks to go in the regular season, but they will also be looking to continue building upon their advantage in the race for home-field in the playoffs.
Both the Giants and Mets lost their games on Wednesday, so the Giants have a one game lead over the Cardinals for the NL Wild Card lead. Lester has allowed fewer than two runs in each of his last five starts. Overall, the Cubs (92-52) wasted Fowler’s leadoff home run to begin the game, going 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and leaving 10 men on base. The three hits were all singles. Lester has thrown himself into the National League Cy Young Award with a preposterous 1.02 ERA over his last 61 2/3 innings of work.
Fans are excited. “I can imagine postseason is going to be ridiculous”, said fan Fia Torres. He is the second Cubs left-handed hitter in franchise history to post multiple 30 home run and 100 RBI seasons (Billy Williams did it in 1965, 1970 and 1972).
The April 3 season opener with the Cubs will be the first game of a three-game series (April 3 & 5-6) with the Cubs and a season-opening six-game home stand that will also include three games against the Cincinnati Reds (April 7-9).
Cardinals starter Carlos Martinez, who has been the best pitcher in the club’s rotation, gave up four earned runs and eight hits over six innings. Jason Hammel (14-9, 3.60 ERA) held a powerful lineup in check for stretches (nine strikeouts), but got burned with two pitches.
Ross’ two-run homer in the fifth was just third by a right-handed batter against Martinez, who had his four winning decisions streak snapped.
Dexter Fowler led off the game with a home run against Jaime Garcia.
The Cardinals (76-69) endured their third straight losing homestand and fell to 33-41 at home, clinching their first losing season at Busch Stadium III since it opened in 2006.
While clinching at least a wild card spot is nice, the Cubs look forward to wrapping up the division at home this weekend, preferably tomorrow.
Advertisement
“The fastball command wasn’t there”, Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “They kept us off balance it seemed like, and made the plays”. The Cardinals are expected to activate RHP Trevor Rosenthal (right shoulder inflammation) and LF Matt Holliday (right thumb fracture) from the DL before the week’s over. RHP Johnny Cueto (15-5, 2.90) will start for the Giants. The Cardinals and Giants start a four-game series on Thursday evening.
