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St. Louis Cardinals-Chicago Cubs Recap: Fans Kept Waiting

By Chris Olszewski

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“Good things come those who wait” was the big takeaway from this recent Cardinals-Cubs series. In all but the last game, the majority of the runs were scored in the fifth inning or later. Before then, pitching was dominant; in the first three games, no starting pitcher gave up more than three runs. Despite the offensive spark, the bullpens remained a problem for both clubs. This was especially true for the Cubs, who can owe their two losses in the series to ninth inning mistakes by their pitching staff.

The first game was a true pitchers’ duel. Both Jon Lester and John Lackey pitched seven innings. Lester in particular had a good day; in addition to throwing 6 and 1/3 innings of no-hit ball, he cracked his first major league hit off of Lackey. It all fell apart in the seventh for Lester as the Cardinals chased him from the mound. First, Jhonny Peralta hit a single into right field to break the no-hitter. Two batters later, Yadier Molina drove Peralta in on a sacrifice fly. Kolten Wong would single to bring Jason Heyward home, and that was it for Lester.

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But the real trouble for the Cubs started after a 90-minute rain delay with Edwin Jackson in the ninth. After Jhonny Peralta walked, both Molina and Wong singled off Jackson to load the bases. Mark Reynolds would hit a sacrifice fly and Randal Grichuk would double to bring all three in for runs. Grichuk himself would score a run on a Peter Bourjos single as the final score reached 6-0.

The Cubs took their revenge in Tuesday’s doubleheader. In the day game, Chris Denorfia came up huge for the Cubs, scoring four of their seven runs. In the third inning, Denorfia took a Tyler Lyons slider to center and scored Anthony Rizzo and Jorge Soler, and he smacked a Randy Choate pitch to bring in Soler and Kris Bryant along with a Dexter Fowler double and a Anthony Rizzo homer as part of a four-run eighth inning.  Despite a late rally in the form of a Mark Reynolds 2-run homer, the Cards lost  7-4.

The trouble for the Cardinals continued in the night game. Things were quiet until the fifth inning, when Starlin Castro came in off a Taylor Teagarden single to open the scoring. The Cardinals would respond with two runs in the sixth; Jason Heyward grounded into a fielder’s choice to drive Matt Carpenter in, and Mark Reynolds hit an infield single to bring Heyward home. The Cubs scored three runs in the seventh and Anthony Rizzo would score on a Castro sac fly. A Peter Bourjos single in the ninth to score Randal Grichuk would not be enough as the Cardinals lost 5-3.

As the fourth game in the series neared its end, it looked like the Cubs would take the series. The North Siders put up two runs in the fourth on a Kris Bryant triple and a Starlin Castro single and three runs in the sixth on a Miguel Montero bases clearing double to get ahead 5-4, but Jhonny Peralta would once again play spoiler. With two outs in the ninth inning, Peralta took a Pedro Strop pitch yard with Pete Kozma on base to put the Cardinals up 6-5. Addison Russell would double to center, but it wouldn’t be enough to top the Cardinals.

Despite the losses, the Cardinals should be optimistic. The Cardinals scored at least three runs in every game in the series. The offense is starting to click, and the Matt Holliday should be back sooner rather than later to give the lineup even more pop. The Cardinals have certainly regained their stride, and it’s at just the right time; The Pirates have won eight of their last ten, and are 4.5 games back of the Cardinals in the NL Central. This next series will be crucial if the Cardinals wish to go into the All-Star Break with any sort of positive momentum.

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