*Photo from Kentucky Today*
The St.Louis Cardinals are one of the hottest teams in baseball right now. Everything they've been doing has struck gold in a big way. They are not looking to slow down. Harrison Bader homered, Tyler O'Neill homered, and the Cardinals defeated the Chicago Cubs 8-5 on Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Cardinals have now won 15 straight games, which is a new franchise record, passing the 14 game win streak set by the 1935 Cardinals, known as the Gashouse Gang. Their 15th straight win has also increased their playoff chances tenfold, with their magic number to clinch now dropping to 3 with 7 games left in the regular season.
Cardinals pitcher TJ McFarland said of setting a win streak record that "It's an incredible feeling. It’s a complete elation of knowing every time we come to the field that we’re going to win. It's that confidence, I don't want to say arrogance, but it’s almost that motivation every time we come to the field, we’re expecting to win, and we’re rising to the occasion when we need to."
Bader started the game off with a bang in the second inning, with a solo home run making it 1-0 Cardinals to get things going. In the 3rd, the Cubs took a 2-1 lead thanks to an RBI double from Willson Contreras and an RBI single from Ian Happ. In the top of the 4th, a solo home run from O'Neill tied the game 2-2. In the bottom of the 4th, two Cubs runs made it a 4-2 lead.
In the 7th, the Cardinals offense exploded. Bader and Lars Nootbaar each hit RBI singles to tie the game at 4-4. Then, a sac fly from Paul De Jong gave the Cardinals a 5-4 lead. In the 9th, Bader scored on a dropped 3rd strike, and De Jong cranked a two run home run to make it a 8-4 lead for the Cardinals. Happ homered for the Cubs to make it 8-5, but the damage was done.
Kwang-Hyun Kim got the win in relief for the Cardinals, throwing a scoreless 6th inning to improve to 7-7 this season. Jon Lester got the start, getting a no decision after allowing 4 runs on 8 hits and 3 walks, fanning 6 hitters in 5 innings pitched. McFarland got a hold after throwing two innings in relief, and Luis Garcia closed out the Cubs in the 9th.
Cardinals manager Mike Shildt addressed the record win streak after the game, saying that "It's hard to do something in this organization that has never been done. For this group to be able to do something nobody's done, and what I love about it, it speaks to the team aspect of it. It’s a team."
Codi Heuer blew his 3rd save of the season, and fell to a 7-3 record after getting the loss, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits, failing to record an out in his relief appearance for the Cubs. It wasted a fine start from Adrian Sampson, who allowed two runs on 3 hits, walking no one and striking out 4 hitters in 6 strong innings.
Cubs manager David Ross was happy with the latest strong start from Sampson, saying postgame that "Let's give him credit where credit's due. It's not all about development all the time. It's about winning baseball games. We're in the big leagues. He's done a nice job. Every time he's taken the mound, he's given us a chance to win ballgames."
The Cardinals and Cubs conclude their series on Sunday afternoon, with Jake Woodford taking the mound to start for the Cardinals, with the Cubs sending Keegan Thompson to counter.
Comments
Post a Comment