Cardinals Recap: St. Louis walks off in tenth against Cubs

Cardinals make it four-straight in walk-off

The St. Louis Cardinals pushed across the winning run in the bottom of the tenth inning to take the series opener from the division rival Chicago Cubs, 3-2.

With the outfielders pulled in on the infield dirt and the bases loaded in the tenth, Jhonny Peralta hit a slow-rolling snubber to right-fielder Mike Baxter, who was playing near second base in on the grass.

The Chicago outfielder fielded the roller, but his throw home was wide, allowing Peter Bourjos to score the winning run as St. Louis improved to a Major League-best 25 games over .500.

St. Louis (49-24) was baffled all night-long by Cubs starter Jake Arrieta, who was dominant, allowing just one run on three hits over seven sterling innings.

However, it was the erratic Chicago bullpen that cost the visiting team a shot at gaining ground on the Cardinals in the standings.

Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth, recently-promoted outfielder Greg Garcia took the 3-1 pitch from Pedro Strop and deposited it into the center-field seats, tying the game at two and setting up the eventual walk-off win.

The Cardinals opened the scoring against Arrieta in the bottom of the second, via an RBI triple by Randal Grichuk, his fifth three-bagger of the season.

However, Chicago (39-33) answered back against St. Louis starter John Lackey in the top of the fourth, when Mike Baxter singled to right, scoring Miguel Montero to tie things up.

More from Redbird Rants

• Cardinals Rumors: 3 pros and cons of signing Carlos Rodon
• What’s next for the St. Louis Cardinals after Contreras signing?
• Report: Cardinals Emerge As Mystery Team for Carlos Rodon
• Cardinals: Trade targets after signing Willson Contreras
• Reflecting on the 2013 Cardinals’ top 30 prospects

The Cubs took a lead in the top of the seventh when third baseman Kris Bryant plated a run via a sacrifice fly against Lackey, who was solid all night, as well.

The veteran turned in seven innings of two-run baseball, walking three and striking out five. On the year, his earned run average stands at an impressive 3.35 and the lights-out Cardinals bullpen took over from there.

Kevin Siegrist, Trevor Rosenthal, Randy Choate and Seth Maness combined for three innings of two-hit ball, giving the offense the opportunity to deliver a big win.

The two teams struggled with runners in scoring position throughout the contest, combining to go 2-for-17 in such situations.

What’s Next:

Right-hander Michael Wacha (9-3, 2.85) will square off against recently-promoted Cubs’ Triple-A right-hander Donn Roach (0-0, 0.00) on Saturday night at Busch Stadium.

Roach is making his 2015 debut, filling in the for the injured Tsuyoshi Wada, while Wacha eyes his tenth win of the year.

First pitch is set for 6:15 p.m. CT.

Next: Several Cardinals are ASG-worthy this season