Molina homers twice to help Cardinals beat Cubs

The Chicago Cubs got exactly what they needed out of Eddie Butler.

St. Louis Cardinals’ Kolten Wong, left, congratulates teammate Matt Carpenter, right, after Carpenter hit a two-run home run off Chicago Cubs’ Jake Arrieta during the third inning of a baseball game Sunday, May 14, 2017, in St. Louis.

“It feels good coming in here and helping the guys win”, Butler said. “I’m happy to see him back pitching that way, because, of course, we’re going to need him”. “It’s a good outing to build off, and I can get better”.

Martinez had his second straight two-hit game and started a disputed double play to help the Cardinals beat the Cubs 5-3 at St. Louis.

John has already briefly profiled the newest Chicago Cub, Ian Happ.

Relievers Trevor Rosenthal and Kevin Siegrist polished off the Cardinals’ second shutout of the year with 1-2-3 innings.

“The biggest thing for me is defense”, Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “He was really good. I believe it’s going to be nearly like a snap of the fingers, everything’s going to fall back into place, and you’re going to see this slow method of better, better, better, great”. I think we have a tendency to micromanage stuff that we have no business to do.

Wade Davis got his eighth save in as many tries.

Wainwright isn’t much better, as he’s gone through six innings just once in seven starts.

“That was everything they’ve talked about that they’ve tried to eliminate from the game, with going through the bag like nearly a barrel roll”.

The call was also reviewed and upheld, leaving the Cubs scoreless in that inning and extremely irritated.

The Cubs are without Addison Russel l (right shoulder), Ben Zobrist (back), Kris Bryant (ill) and Jon Jay (back). But after worming out of a two-on, one-out jam in the first inning by fanning Miguel Montero for the third out, Wainwright allowed only one runner to reach third in his final six innings.

In case you missed the St. Louis Cardinals game Saturday afternoon, let’s set the scene…

The offense hadn’t scored 3 or fewer runs in four consecutive games since early July previous year, in a series against the Mets. Christian Bergman (0-1) allowed three runs and seven hits in five innings.

Contreras, who had 12 home runs in 2016, hit solo homers in the second and fourth innings.

At the moment, Arrieta symbolizes the 18-19 team that quietly packed up after Sunday afternoon’s 5-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

Happ’s ability to hit home runs elevates his status as a prospect. With his next win, he will be the eighth active manager to reach 1,000 wins, joining Bruce Bochy, Dusty Baker, Mike Scioscia, Buck Showalter, Terry Francona, Clint Hurdle and Net Yost.

Pham had an RBI double and Magneuris Sierra had a run-scoring single in the sixth to make it 5-1, negating a two-run homer by the Cubs’ Ian Happ in the seventh – his first career hit. His numbers have held up to that bill, with his recent nine home run output in just 26 games constituting peak production. Joakim Soria (2-1) worked a flawless eighth to pick up the victory. The Cardinals hope to continue their surge, as they have won seven of their last eight games.