Chicago Cubs Finish Off St. Louis Cardinals in Game Four, 6-4
It’s over.
In losing to the Chicago Cubs 6-4, the St. Louis Cardinals were eliminated from the 2015 postseason. But the Cards did not go down without a fight.
Steven Piscotty got the scoring started in the first. The young outfielder jacked a two-run home run off of Cubs pitcher Jason Hammel, but Hammel hunkered down afterward and lasted through the third inning. That was just long enough for the Cubs offense to take action. In the second inning, Cubs rookie shortstop Javier Baez homered to bring in fellow rookie Kyle Schwarber and Hammel. Earlier in the inning, Hammel had singled to bring in Starlin Castro.
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This riled Cardinals pitcher John Lackey, who only pitched three innings. After the third inning, both clubs went to their bullpens. The Cardinals relied mainly on Adam Wainwright; Wainwright primarily focused on damage control, pitching two innings of no-hit ball. The Cardinals offense could not take advantage until the top of the 6th. In that half-inning, Tony Cruz doubled and Brandon Moss singled to bring in Jason Heyward and Jhonny Peralta, respectively, to tie up the score.
In the bottom of the sixth, Anthony Rizzo homered to bring the score to 5-4, and in the next inning, Kyle Schwarber hit one out of the park to put the game away for good. It wasn’t quite the outburst the Northsiders had Monday night, but it was more than enough.
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- St. Louis Cardinals release RHP Corey Baker from organization
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After the 6th inning, the Cubs bullpen only gave up one hit, a single to Matt Carpenter in the 9th. The Cardinals could not get it going against the Cubs bullpen-by-committee, giving the potent Cubs offense more than enough time to put the game away. The Cubs bullpen relied on pitchers for no longer than one inning, and the winning pitcher, Trevor Cahill actually did the worst of the Cubs bullpen; Cahill gave up two runs on three hits with two strikeouts.
There is a reason the Chicago Cubs have made to the NLCS. The Cubs have consistently relied on an extraordinarily deep roster to pull through, not only when their backs were against the wall (both in Pittsburgh and throughout the regular season), but also to get the job done when required. The Cards, on the other hand, could not, and tonight it showed. Now the Cubs are waiting on the Mets and the Dodgers to finish their business.
As for the Cardinals, I hope Mike Matheny has a decent golf handicap.
It’s been fun, folks. There’s always next year.