CHICAGO — After stealing the first game of this series from the Cardinals, the Cubs gave one back to them on Saturday.
A walk, a hit batter, a throwing error and a fly ball that should have been caught in short center field but wasn’t let the Cardinals score three runs in the eighth inning at Wrigley Field, coming back from a 4-1 deficit to tie the game.
The Cardinals then won the game in the ninth when Ian Happ just missed catching Tommy Pham’s line drive to the wall in left center, resulting in a triple, and he scored on a sacrifice fly by Lars Nootbaar.
The four-game series began with the Cubs scoring three runs in the ninth inning off Ryan Helsley to wipe out a 4-2 deficit and win 5-4 on Thursday night. Helsley got his revenge on Saturday, needing just nine pitches to retire the Cubs in order in the ninth.
The gift from the Cubs kept the Cardinals from going 0-3 to begin the series and falling to just one game over .500 for the season.
Here is how Saturday’s game broke down:
At the plate: After Alec Burleson’s home run, his 19th of the year, in the first inning, the Cardinals were shut out on five hits before the eighth … With one out, Burleson walked and Willson Contreras was hit by a pitch. After Paul Goldschmidt flew out, Brendan Donovan reached on an infield single to third, and a throwing error let Burleson score and the other runners advance to second and third. Nolan Arenado popped up to short center field, but the ball got up in the wind and Pete Crow-Armstrong wasn’t able to catch it after calling off Nico Hoerner, allowing both runners to score … Donovan had three of the Cardinals’ nine hits … Until that inning the Cardinals had been 0-of-5 with a runner in scoring position in the game and 1-of-16 in the series.
On the mound: The Cubs built their early lead with a two-run homer from Michael Busch off Kyle Gibson in the first inning and a run-scoring triple by Crow-Armstrong and a sacrifice bunt in the second … From the third through the seventh Gibson allowed just two hits, as he retired 17 of 19 batters after the triple … JoJo Romero worked a perfect eighth inning before turning the ball over to Helsley for his 34th save in the ninth as the Cubs did not have a hit after a one-out single by Busch in the fifth.
Key stat: Pham also had a bloop double in the third, and in his five games since the trade has gone 8-of-16 with a grand slam homer, two doubles, a triple, eight RBIs and four runs scored.
Worth noting: Michael Siani’s 12-game hitting streak was snapped as he was 0-of-3 with three strikeouts. He was replaced by Nootbaar at the start of the ninth inning because of right oblique tightness.
Looking ahead: Sunday’s series finale will be the ESPN Sunday night game of the week, with Miles Mikolas starting for the Cardinals.
Follow Rob Rains on Twitter @RobRains
