“We’ll ride it out and see where it goes”, Arrieta said. Bryant provided the winning cushion with a three-run homer in the sixth that loomed large after the Cardinals rallied for four runs in the sixth and seventh innings after Arrieta was relieved.
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The recap: Initially, Wednesday’s series finale with the Chicago Cubs was going to be – from the looks of things – a repeat of Tuesday.
Randal Grichuk collected two hits and an RBI for the Cardinals (24-22), while shortstop Aledmys Diaz provided a highlight-film defensive play with a twisting over-the-shoulder catch of Anthony Rizzo’s pop fly in the second, turning it into a double play.
“I hope not”, he said. “Just missed by a centimeter or so”. In the second game the Cubs routed St. Louis 12-3, knocking Michael Wacha out of the game in the fourth inning.
Miami got 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, while Tampa Bay saw rookie Tyler Sturdevant, a day removed from his major-league debut, give up three hits and the go-ahead run in 0.1 innings. Unfortunately, they made a plus defensive play in a big situation.
White Sox, Indians split: Brett Lawrie broke a fifth-inning tie with a three-run homer, Todd Frazier hit his 14th of the season, and Chicago won 7-6 in the opener of a doubleheader. It was Adams’ second pinch-hit homer this season and he’s hitting.500 off the bench. In between, the Cubs needled Martinez (4-5) with four other hits and accepted two walks. In my opinion it was in that the Cardinals did not let a six run inning get them down the rest of the game.
Manager Joe Maddon was ready to pull Arrieta in the fifth if he had loaded the bases with slugger Matt Adams coming up, but the right-hander managed to avoid that situation and qualify for the victory thanks to Tommy La Stella.
INDIANS 6, WHITE SOX 2 Josh Tomlin beat Chris Sale in a one-sided matchup of unbeaten pitchers and Francisco Lindor had three hits, leading the Cleveland Indians to a victory over the Chicago White Sox.
What’s even worse than having to play a winner-take-all game to get into the playoffs when you had the second-best record in baseball?
Jake Arrieta got some help from the Cubs’ offense to stay flawless. It was the team’s ninth pinch-homer in 75 at-bats, which leads all of baseball, and is just one shy of the franchise record of 10 set in 1998.
Kris Bryant hit a three-run homer and Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist each drove in two for the Cubs.
Hector Rondon earned his eighth save.
The Cubs have struggled on offense lately, scoring 3 or less runs in six of their last seven games.
Cardinals third baseman 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.
Matheny took exception to a question about Kolten Wong’s fourth-inning at-bat. RHP Mitch Harris (elbow) was moved to the 60-day disabled list to make room for Martinez on the 40-man roster.
Bryant drove a 3-2 pitch from Seung Hwan Oh about 411 feet in the sixth inning, giving the Cubs a 9-4 lead.
Ivan Nova (3-2) threw well again but lost for the first time in four starts since moving from the bullpen to the rotation. The 24-year-old is now 4-4 with a 3.56 ERA through eight starts and opposing batters are hitting.218 against him.
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Martinez pitched 5.0 innings in his last outing, surrendering four runs, striking out three and walking three in an 11-7 defeat to the Diamondbacks.
