St. Louis Cardinals Recap: Siegrist’s error costs Cards in nightcap

After stealing the lead, the St. Louis Cardinals coughed up three in the seventh to give the Chicago Cubs a 5-3 win in the nightcap of Tuesday’s twin bill.

Looking to bounce back after losing the afternoon game, a mental miscue and a controversial call spelled doom for the first-place Cardinals at Wrigley Field.

Leading 2-1 in the seventh, St. Louis had Seth Maness on the hill with one out. Miguel Montero drew a walk and Jonathan Herrera singled, giving the Cubs two men on with still just one away.

Addison Russell chopped a ball down the first-base line, and although some believed the ball may have been foul, it was ruled fair – tying the game 2-2. Maness exchanged words with the first base umpire and was promptly tossed, forcing Mike Matheny to turn things over to Kevin Siegrist.

It was the St. Louis left-hander who essentially cost the Cardinals a shot at a win, when he air-mailed a throw on a routine hopper back to the mound, allowing Russell to score, giving the Cubs a 3-2 lead.

Sacrifice flies by Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro extended the Chicago advantage to 5-2, and a ninth-inning rally by St. Louis (54-30) fell short, as former Cardinals closer Jason Motte escaped with minimal damage to nail down his fifth save.

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Tuesday marked the first doubleheader sweep of the Cardinals since June 8, 1992 for Chicago, who now trail the Redbirds by 7 1/2 games in the NL Central.

Trailing 1-0 in the sixth, Jason Heyward, who was white-hot all-day-long, delivered an RBI groundout to tie the ballgame. A grounder in the hole at short off the bat of Mark Reynolds pushed the Cards ahead 2-1, but it was a lead that was short-lived.

St. Louis starter Tim Cooney was dominant, but was once-again denied his first big-league win. In 5 1/3 innings of work, the southpaw allowed just one run on three hits, striking out three and walking just one.

In the loss, Heyward was the only Cardinals hitter to tally more than one hit. No Cubs player recorded multiple hits in the nightcap.

What’s Next:

St. Louis will send Michael Wacha to the hill in the series finale Wednesday night at Wrigley Field.

He will be opposed by righty Jason Hammel, who has been good for Chicago this year.

First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. CT.

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