Jorge Soler and Kris Bryant hit back-to-back homers, tempers flared for the second straight game and host Chicago beat St. Louis on Saturday for its fifth straight victory to tighten the National League Central race.
Advertisement
The Cardinals won the third game of the series, giving them a commanding six-game lead over Chicago.
The Cubs couldn’t complete the sweep against St. Louis Sunday afternoon at Wrigley, but the 4-3 loss doesn’t change the fact that they now have the belief they can stand toe-to-toe with – and beat – the best team in baseball.
Jason Heyward, two time Golden Glove victor, displayed his strength of arm for an extraordinary double play against the Chicago Cubs. I think you understand it when you have a makeup game on a Monday and nearly 40,000 people show up at 1 p.m. That says it all. Offending pitcher Matt Belisle and manager Mike Matheny are tossed by the homeplate umpire, but the Cubs are not amused.
“(Molina) coming out of the game took some talking to do it. He wanted to stay in and thought he could still catch.
“That was a base hit the moment it left the bat”, Maddon said.
The Cubs ran into another out in the ninth.
Also remember that in last year’s National League Championship Series, the Cardinals and San Francisco Giants split the first two games, with Molina suffering a strained oblique in the second.
I had one quibble with what Joe Maddon did, or more correctly, did not do in the ninth inning. “It’s obvious we’re playing on the same level as they are right now”.
St Louis had sealed a post-season berth on Saturday, despite losing to the Cubs, when San Francisco lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Now they’ve proved it to the Cardinals, as well. Martinez is 1-0 with a 5.04 ERA in 13 games (three starts) against the Cubs. Rookies Tommy Pham and Stephen Piscotty homered. Jhonny Peralta was on first and scored on the home run. Texas’ division lead was trimmed to 1 1/2 games over second-place Houston.
Blaine Boyer (3-5) allowed an unearned run in 1 1-3 innings.
Masahiro Tanaka has a strained right hamstring and won’t make his scheduled start for the New York Yankees this week during a crucial series in Toronto.
ROYALS 10, TIGERS 3 Kendrys Morales hit three home runs and a triple, setting a team record with 15 total bases as visiting Kansas City beat Detroit to avoid a three-game sweep. If Maddon can find more spots to get him into and loose in the final weeks, he could be an important part of the postseason push leading into the Wild Card game.
Chicago Cubs starter Jon Lester delivers a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Sunday, September 20, 2015 in Chicago. Lester connected for single, and Martinez proceeded to issue two of his three walks.
Advertisement
Starlin Castro matched his career high with six RBIs, hitting a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the fifth and a three-run drive in the sixth to lead the Chicago Cubs over the St. Louis Cardinals 8-3 Friday for their fourth…
