The St. Louis Cardinals entered Sunday night;s series finale against the Chicago Cubs one night after winning their 50th game of the season, an 8-1 victory over the opponents from the north. And they looked to complete the sweep…but they had to wait a while for the game to continue after it started.
A short time after the first pitch, severe storms rattled the St. Louis metropolitan area. Because of the weather, there were two separate delays, one over 45 minutes, and another over an hour long.
But after much anticipation, the game was finally back underway, and the starting pitchers for both teams were Carlos Martinez (8-3, 2.89) and Jason Hammel (5-2, 2.65).
St. Louis scored first in the game, during the bottom of the second inning. With two outs, and after a double by catcher Yadier Molina, Xavier Scruggs hit a single deep into the gap of right center field, scoring Molina to make it 1-0 Cardinals.
In the top of the third inning, the Cubs answered right back. Dexter Fowler led off with a double, and after Martinez struck out Kris Bryant, a sacrifice fly by Anthony Rizzo scored Fowler (who had advanced to third on a wild pitch) to tie the game at 1-1.
The Cardinals were held scoreless by Hammel in the bottom of the third inning, and the Cubs were then shutout by Martinez in the top of the fourth inning. But St. Louis in the bottom half of the fourth was able to regain the lead once again.
It started with a double by shortstop Jhonny Peralta. Right fielder Jason Heyward followed that with a double of his own, giving the Cardinals a 2-1 lead. Randal Grichuk struck out looking, but Molina doubled once again, this time driving home Heyward, making it 3-1 Cardinals. More than 75% of the Cardinals’ hits during Sunday night’s game were extra base hits, and were pivotal in the outcome.
James Russell eventually relieved Hammel in the bottom of the fifth with the score still 3-1. Kolten Wong had already doubled in the previous at-bat, and third baseman Matt Carpenter stepped up to the plate next: and Carpenter, much like Wong before him, doubled, and the score was 4-1 Cardinals.
But while the Cardinals were doing work at the plate, Martinez was doing work on the mound, as the young right-hander kept the Cubs in check all night long. When Seth Maness entered the game to relieve Martinez before the seventh inning, he already had another quality start in the books.
It was his eighth quality start in a row.
The final line of the evening for Martinez: 6 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 3 BB, 6 Ks. His ERA now stands at 2.80.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs could not mount a comeback, and after relief appearances from Maness and Kevin Siegrist, closer Trevor Rosenthal entered to pitch the ninth. And Rosenthal kept his great season going, getting his 23rd save of the season, and lowering his ERA to 0.52 in the process.
St. Louis defeated Chicago 4-1 to sweep the Cubs. Martinez is now 9-3 on the year, while Hammel is 5-3. The Cardinals improve to 51-24 while the rival Cubs fall to 39-35 as they try to keep pace of not only the Cardinals, but also of the Pittsburgh Pirates (who lost 2-1 to the Atlanta Braves on Sunday).
Also with the win, the Cardinals are an astounding 29-7 at home this season, as well as 22-8 against the National League Central.
And it’s not even July 1st.
On Tuesday, due to a setback for Jaime Garcia (who is now scheduled to pitch Thursday), Lance Lynn will pitch in the first game of a series against the Chicago White Sox.
(Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
