What You Need To Know:
That Jason Heyward had a hand in the game-winning run, and Dexter Fowler struck out to end the game, and that the Cubs swept the series all feels a little too on the nose. Write this in a screenplay and it probably gets chopped, but the Cubs and Cardinals always come with a penchant for the dramatic.
In tonight’s finale, the Cubs had the chance to finish a much-needed sweep following their brutal west coast trip, and the Cardinals had an opportunity to stay neck-to-neck with Chicago for second place in the NL Central. Neither starter had his best stuff tonight: Kyle Hendricks was touched up for four runs in the top of the fourth inning, and then Michael Wacha surrendered five in the bottom frame. St. Louis would knot it up in the sixth when Hector Rondon’s struggles with his command plagued him enough for them to score two runs. It started with a fluky single from Yadier Molina before a stolen base put him in position to score. Then it was a Rondon wild pitch that sent him all the way to third before Paul DeJong’s groundout sent him home to put the game within a run. Rondon couldn’t hold back the tide, giving up the game-tying run on a ground-rule double off of the bat of Aledmys Diaz.
But Jason Heyward’s baserunning, and Pedro Strop and Koji Uehara’s pitching rendered all of this moot, and the sweep was completed.
Next Level:
It would be a failure not to mention both Ian Happ’s pair of home runs and the shoddy St. Louis defense. Derrick Goold, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch beat writer covering the Cardinals said that better glovework would be a necessity for them to win consistently, and tonight stands out as a glaring example. Stephen Piscotty might have hit a three-run homer to put the Redbirds ahead in the fourth, but his Buckner-esque miff of Albert Almora, Jr.’s pinch-hit single to right field set the stage for Ian Happ’s three-run blast to put the Cubs back in the lead.
And of those home runs: Happ had not hit one since May 16, and he popped off two tonight. The first had much less fanfare, but the third-inning solo shot deserves recognition, too. Wacha’s attempt to send a 94 mph fourseamer past Happ failed, as the center fielder reversed its course and sent it over the seats in right field. The three-run shot in the next inning was the product of a 0-1 changeup that should have done the trick—it followed a 97 mph fourseamer—but Happ sent this one to the bleachers as well.
What proved to be the most important run of the night was heavily aided by another missed opportunity on defense for St. Louis. In the seventh, Anthony Rizzo’s single was sandwiched in between a Kris Bryant ground out and a Ben Zobrist lineout, and then the ball Jason Heyward hit up the middle looked like Cardinals reliever Matt Bowman could have caught it, but instead he deflected it just past second, where DeJong fielded it and then awkwardly attempted to flip the ball to second and failed. This put Rizzo safely on second. Joe Maddon’s pinch hitter, Jon Jay—also a former Cardinal, just because of course—singled to left center, allowing Rizzo to round third and head for home.
From there, call it a TOOTBLAN or call it just really, really smart work on the basepaths from Heyward, but Rizzo was able to score the seventh Cubs run before Heyward was tagged in a rundown. His decision to go past second and draw the play in his direction instead of toward home base, where perhaps there was a small chance Rizzo is thrown out trying to score, speaks to the intelligence of Heyward.
Top Play (WPA):
Ian Happ’s fourth inning three-run homer gave this game back to the Cubs (+.339), but the Miguel Montero walk and the singles by Addison Russell and Albert Almora that preceded it should not be overlooked.
Bottom Play (WPA):
On another night, Stephen Piscotty’s three-run homer (-.241) is enough, but times have changed, even from just last week.
Up Next:
From here the homestand continues at 7:05 tomorrow night against the Marlins.
Lead photo courtesy Matt Marton—USA Today Sports