The Chicago Cubs rebounded from a dormant Game 1 against the St. Louis Cardinals, topping the NL Central champions 6-3 in Game 2 of the NL Division Series to even the series at two games apiece.
As expected, the Cardinals got on the board early. In the first inning, Matt Carpenter led off the Cardinals’ half of the game with a homer, giving St. Louis a 1-0 lead and bringing a sense o dread into the hearts of Cubs fans.
But then, something funny happened in the second – Chicago started getting breaks with Jaime Garcia on the hill. Starlin Castro led the inning off with a single, and Austin Jackson reached (and advanced to second) follwoing a fielder’s choice that eliminated Castro and a throwing error. Jackson stole third, Miguel Montero walked, and Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks tied the game at one after a squeeze and throwing error.
The Cubs then went to the well again, with Montero scoring on a squeeze by Addison Russell to give Chicago a 2-1 lead.
Dexter Fowler was up next, and reached on an infield single to make it 3-1 before Jorge Soler launched a homer to increase Chicago’s lead to 5-1.
In the third, Lance Lynn came in to relieve Garcia, and wasn’t sharp. Lynn walked Anthony Rizzo to lead off the inning, gave up a single to Castro, and allowed Rizzo to score on a groundout by Montero. 6-1 is too much in the playoffs, isn’t it?
Well…not so much. After the Cardinals went scoreless in the third and fourth, their offense awakened in the fifth off of Hendricks when Kolten Wong and Randal Grichuk went back to back, cutting the Cubs’ lead to 6-3.
And then, neither team did a whole lot in the final third of the game. Fowler led off the seventh with a double, advanced to third with one out, and couldn’t score. Jason Heyward hit an infield single with one out in the ninth, and was erased on a fielder’s choice. Those two hits were joined by a Yadier Molina single with two outs in the seventh as the only base knocks from innings six through nine.
But no matter – the Cubs took advantage of some sloppy Cardinals play to tie the series at one with Jake Arrieta going in Game 3 on Monday. Perhaps the most important development of the night for the Cardinals was the emergence of Adam Wainwright from the bullpen in the seventh. Wainwright went five up, five down in the seventh and eighth, striking out three hitters and tallying a total of 18 pitches in the process. Quite an encouraging development.
The start time for Game 3 on Monday is still TBD, but the Arrieta vs Michael Wacha pitching matchup is quite enticing. This will definitely be a big one, and after splitting in St. Louis, the ball is now in the Cubs’ court.
