St. Louis entered the ninth inning on the verge of being the first no-hit victims in Busch Stadium III’s 11-year history, but Jeremy Hazelbaker’s leadoff homer on an 0-2 pitch from Chicago Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks saved it from that distinction, if not the indignity of a 4-1 loss.
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“I’ve always had confidence in my pitchability”, said Hendricks, who has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 20 consecutive starts.
Hendricks took a no-hitter into the ninth inning Monday in a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
Hazelbaker drove an 0-and-2 pitch into the rightfield stands. Chaz Roe (2-0) pitched one inning of scoreless relief for the win.
“You just want to break it up. What are you going to do?” His ERA in the second half is an especially sparkling 1.33. NY is 16-6 in the last 22 games and still in the wild-card hunt.
Ben Zobrist and Dexter Fowler homered as the Cubs improved to 92-51 and reduced their magic number to three for winning their division.
The Chicago Cubs look to keep rolling as they travel from Houston to St. Louis to battle the Cardinals in an NL Central show down. He nearly added a no-hitter to the Cubs’ exceptional season while also lowering his major league-leading ERA. It was a good pitch he threw me.
Latos had a solid first start with the Nationals, but left the game with one out in the fifth inning when he appeared to injure his right leg. Stephen Piscotty leads St. Louis with 143 hits, Yadier Molina has 47 RBI and Matt Carpenter has 19 home runs.
“Obviously, Jeremy coming through there is something positive in the right direction”, Matheny said. “It’s always good to score”.
Manager Joe Maddon took Hendricks out after allowing the home run completing arguably his best night as a member of the Cubs.
Matheny, knowing that Maddon wanted Chapman, who had just started warming up, said, in clipped tones, “He needed more time”. He got three outs for his 14th save with Chicago, and is 34 for 37 overall this year with the Cubs and Yankees.
Even Hendricks considered his pitching style and said: “Honestly, I didn’t think I’d ever really get that close to one”.
“That’s a good lineup over there”, he said.
He didn’t get the no-hitter. “They hit a lot of home runs”.
The Cardinals lead the NL with 205 homers, four of which have come off Hendricks.
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Jorge Soler, handling the designated hitter duties for the second time in three games, smacked a home run to ignite a four-run third.
