The Cubs offense came out swinging on Monday. It was a power display in Game 3 for the Cubs with six different players hitting a home run.
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Rizzo greeted Siegrist with a solo home run to right, his first of the playoffs, for a 5-2 Chicago lead. Of those players, Schwarber, Bryant, Rizzo, Soler, and Fowler were all acquired by the Cubs during the Epstein regime. The Cardinals have yet to retire Soler in this series and in the sixth inning, he greeted Adam Wainwright with a first pitch two-run blast to left center to give the Cubs a three-run lead again at 7-4.
Before a bloodthirsty crowd of 44,276 in the first postseason game at Citi Field, the Mets broke their postseason scoring record as New York public enemy Chase Utley watched from the Los Angeles bench. Soler, who struggled with injuries for much of the year, is 4 for 4 with two homers, four RBI and five walks in the series. Jason Hammel will get the start for the home team at the friendly confines, while Mike Matheny and the Cardinals will turn to resident ace John Lackey on three days rest. Kris Bryant came into Game 3 hitless in 11 postseason at-bats, but quickly changed that with a first-inning single. Starlin Castro notched his first of the postseason in the fourth inning. Overall, he’s allowed 13 runs in his last 8 1/3 postseason innings. Matz had a fine, if abbreviated, rookie season, but dealt with back spasms down the stretch, making it uncertain for a while if he would be healthy enough to make this start. Coming into this afternoon’s chill box at Wrigley, Carpenter is two-for-12 (.166) in his career against Hammel.
The Cubs 1-6 hitters all homered on a night when the wind was blowing out to right field at 25 miles per hour, setting up the flawless scenario for their sluggers in an 8-6 win over the Cardinals in Game 3 of the NLDS at Wrigley Field. The seven-time All-Star returned to the Cardinals’ lineup for Game 1 of the NLDS, but was unable to continue after whiffing at a Jake Arrieta slider in the fourth inning of Game 3. Or two, which is the number of runs St. Louis scored in the ninth, when it was supposed to be looking ahead to Tuesday. These young kids are fearless and their upside is enormous. “They were able to capitalize on two walks”. As MLB.com’s Phil Rogers pointed out, a major question mark for the Cubs will be the depth of their bullpen. Will another unforeseen hurdle prevent the Cubs from advancing as has been their unfortunate reality throughout the years? They have a chance to close out the series at home, although it won’t be an easy task against a St. Louis Cardinals’ team that is playing for their season. He’ll be opposed by Jason Hammel (10-7, 3.94). The game has a scheduled start time of 6 p.m. ET and can be watched on TV on the TBS network or online through free live stream via the link below.
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Neither Molina’s nor Russell’s status for Game 4 is available at this time.
