Cubs ace Jake Arietta is considered to be the best pitcher in baseball today.
But on Monday night, the Cardinals brought it to the ace, scoring as many runs against him as he allowed from June-September of 2015 combined. Unfortunately for St. Louis, it was not enough, because in the first Wrigley Field playoff game since 2003, it was the Cubs night under the lights.
The starters for the evening were Michael Wacha (17-7, 3.38 in 2015) Arrieta (22-6, 1.77 in 2015).
Neither the Cubs nor Cardinals scored a run until the bottom of the second inning, when Kyle Schwarber provided the first spark in a long night for the Cardinals, hitting a solo shot making it 1-0 Cubs. In the top of the fourth inning, the Cardinals were able to respond. Stephen Piscotty and Matt Holliday both walked, leading to Jhonny Peralta hitting a double that scored Piscotty to tie the game up at 1-1.
Tommy Pham followed that up with a ground out that scored Holliday, giving the Cardinals the 2-1 lead.
Chicago responded in the bottom of the fourth with another solo home run, this time by Starlin Castro, tying the game at 2-2. Two more solo home runs in the following inning by Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo suddenly made it a 5-2 game, with the Wrigley crowd going wild.
During that same inning, Wacha’s night was over, with his final line: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 Ks.
St. Louis, however, wasn’t going down that easy. Jason Heyward hit a two-run home run of his own in the top of the sixth to make it a one run game. Just like that, it had seemed the Cardinals were right back in the game. Not too long after that home run, Arietta was taken out of the game, to a standing ovation. It was the worst performance the ace had in months, but he still left the game with the Cubs ahead.
Later in the bottom of the sixth inning, with Adam Wainwright on the mound for St. Louis, and with Jorge Soler at the plate for the Cubs, the young hitter launched a two-run shot over the ivy to make it 7-4 Chicago. He has proven to be a viable asset to the Cubs over the past two postseason games. The Cubs added one more home run to their record-setting performance when Dexter Fowler hit a solo shot to make it an 8-4 game, to essentially close the game out. Despite that, with Randal Grichuk on base, Piscotty blasted a two-run shot to make it 8-6, and while it looked like the Cardinals could tie it up, Hector Rondon closed it out for the Cubs, as they take a 2-1 series lead heading into the fourth game of the NLDS.
John Lackey, who pitched phenomenally to kick the series off, will get the start as the Cardinals look to remain alive in the postseason.
(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
