One night removed from their critical 3-2 win over the National League Central-leading Chicago Cubs, the St. Louis Cardinals once again faced off against their rivals at Wrigley Field, as they looked to win their second straight as well as the series.
Thanks to home runs from veterans Matt Holliday and Matt Carpenter, the Cardinals defeated their top rivals 4-3, giving them their second straight win after losing five straight at Busch Stadium.
The starters for the evening were Adam Wainwright for the Cardinals and Jason Hammel for the Cubs.
Chicago scored first in the bottom of the first inning when Anthony Rizzo hit a deep enough sacrifice fly that scored Chris Coghlan to make it 1-0 Cubs. St. Louis answered in the top of the second with a single to right-center field by Brandon Moss, scoring Stephen Piscotty and tying the game up at 1-1.
Carpenter and Holliday both hit their home runs in the top of the third inning to push the lead to 4-1.
However, the Cubs were able to notch two more runs to make it a one-run game.
Wainwright entered the game with a record of 2-1 and an ERA of 2.50 over his last six starts, including five quality efforts. He had issued a sole walk in each of the first three innings, but thanks to exceptional defense from the Cardinals’ infielders, double plays helped the veteran pitcher get out of jams.
The final line for Wainwright on the evening: 6.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 97 pitches (59 strikes).
Kevin Siegrist was able to get through the eighth inning, and Trevor Rosenthal pitched the ninth for his 14th save in 16 chances. He gave up a one-out single to Addison Russell and walked Javier Baez with two outs, but got Matt Szczur to ground out to end the game.
With the victory, Wainwright won his 10th career game at Wrigley Field (sixth total win on the season), and the Cardinals will look to sweep the Cubs tomorrow afternoon.
