*Photo from Yahoo Sports*
Cody Bellinger started the rally, Mike Tauchman capped it off, and the Chicago Cubs rallied to defeat the St. Louis Cardinals with a 5-4 victory Thursday night in Chicago.
The Cubs opened the series with their second straight win and 5th in 10 games as they still sit 5 games under .500 at 53-58. The win was possible thanks to a 3 run rally in the 9th that started on a Bellinger home run, handing Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley his 3rd blown save in his last 19 save opportunities.
Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson said of the comeback "We have a lot of competitive guys. We just want to go out there and do our best to get ourselves back in the ballgame, tie it up or take the lead, like we did tonight. I think that mindset, sometimes, can be the simplification of it all. It’s sometimes all you need, and we've got a lot of guys that are really, really competing night in and night out."
Paul Goldschmidt got the Cardinals on the board first, hitting a solo home run in the first inning to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. Swanson tied the game 1-1 in the second inning with an RBI single. In the 6th, Seiya Suzuki made it 2-1 Cubs with a solo home run before Masyn Winn hit a two run home run in the 7th to put the Cardinals ahead 3-2.
Later in the 7th, Nolan Arenado padded the Cardinals lead to 4-2 with a single into left field that scored Goldschmidt. In the 9th, Bellinger started the Cubs rally with a solo home run to center field that made it a 4-3 game. Swanson tied the game 4-4 with an RBI double that scored Nico Hoerner. Swanson then scored on a double by Tauchman to complete the comeback.
Tauchman said of his walk off that "It's a great feeling. You always want to come through for the team. We’ve battled a lot of adversity this year, and it’s no secret we’re not where we want to be right now. This is a good start to the month. All we can do is play our best baseball right now."
Shota Imanaga was the starting pitcher for the Cubs and was tagged with 4 runs on 10 hits, striking out 7 hitters in 6 2/3 innings. Jorge Lopez finished the 7th before Nate Pearson tossed two scoreless innings to record his first win in a Cubs uniform.
Sonny Gray started for the Cardinals opposite Imanaga, allowing two runs with 9 strikeouts in 7 innings. JoJo Romero pitched a scoreless 8th inning before Helsley coughed up the lead and the game in the 9th with the blown save and loss.
Helsley said after the game "My breaking ball has been good this year, but looking back at it, I probably left them up too much and this was the third or fourth time they’ve seen me, so the pitches need to be better. I’ve got to mix in the fastball more and make sure that breaking balls are more of chase pitches instead of strikes."
The series continues Friday afternoon with the second game of 4. The Cubs go for their 3rd straight win as Javier Assad is the starting pitcher, while the Cardinals try to even the series behind recent trade acquisition Erick Fedde.
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