Cardinals outlast Cubs with 4 run 8th to win 4th straight

*Photo from the Valdosta Daily Times*

   How about some late game magic? Brendan Donovan drove in two runs, Lars Nootbaar brought in the game winning run, and the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Chicago Cubs with a 7-6 victory Saturday night in St. Louis.

   In a back and forth showdown against the rival Cubs, it was the Cardinals who came out on top, spearheaded behind a 4 run 8th inning. After sweeping the Baltimore Orioles during the week, the Cardinals won the first game of the series for their 4th straight win.

   Paul Goldschmidt got the Cardinals on the board in the 3rd inning with a groundout to make it 1-0. Nolan Arenado doubled the lead to 2-0 with an RBI single that scored Nootbaar. Nico Hoerner tied the game in the 4th with a two run double before Michael Busch hit an RBI single to make it 3-2 Cubs. Masyn Winn tied the game in the 6th with an RBI double.

   Patrick Wisdom put the Cubs ahead 4-3 in the 7th with an RBI double. Carpenter tied it in the 8th with an RBI single before a two run single from Donovan and an RBI triple from Nootbaar made it a 7-4 game. In the 9th inning, Mike Tauchman and Cody Bellinger cut the deficit to 7-6 with RBI singles, but the Cardinals held on for the win.

   St. Louis manager Oli Marmol said of the comeback win "That’s what it is about right there, the place was packed and we put on a good show. The crowd was electric, man, and the players fed off of that."

   Miles Mikolas allowed 3 runs in 6 innings in his start for the Cardinals, striking out 6 hitters. Andrew Kittredge pitched 2/3 of an inning before JoJo Romero pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to get the win. Ryan Helsley allowed two runs in the 9th while still getting the save, his 16th of the season.

   Jameson Taillon pitched 5 2/3 innings in his start for the Cubs, allowing 3 runs. Luke Little pitched a scoreless inning before Tyson Miller finished the 7th inning. Mark Leiter Jr allowed 4 runs in 2/3 of an inning before Porter Hodge finished the 8th.

   Taillon said of his start that "They made me work pretty hard, fouled off a lot of good pitches, had a good approach. They got some hits on some pretty good pitches. Just made me work for everything. I kept the team in it, proud of that. But it was definitely a grind."

   After the series opener Friday night was rained out, the series will wrap up on Sunday after only two games. Sonny Gray gets the start for the Cardinals, opposed by Javier Assad of the Cubs.