Arrieta, Rizzo lead Cubs over Cardinals in doubleheader opener

Cubs pitcher Jon Lester lost his no-hit bid against the St. Louis Cardinals when Jhonny Peralta singled with one out in the seventh inning Monday night.

Arrieta figured he had a chance to make the NL All-Star team, the way he is pitching.

RHP John Lackey (7-5) worked seven shutout innings Monday and improved to 3-1 all-time against the Cubs as he allowed six hits, walked one and struck out four.

Gerardo Parra hit a leadoff homer for the Brewers in the bottom half, his third this season.

REDS 3, NATIONALS 2 Eugenio Suarez hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning to help visiting Cincinnati beat Washington. “All this is doing is preparing us for a shot at the playoffs, because this is what every playoff game is like – one-run games, tight, every pitch matters, all pressure-packed innings”.

That’s where Arrieta comes in – especially Tuesday, when the Cubs opened a doubleheader just a few hours after a rain-delayed, late-night loss to the Cards.

The Cardinals scored two in the sixth to take a 2-1 lead while chasing out Dallas Beeler. His last four starts: 3-0, 1.17 ERA and almost eight innings a start.

Earlier in the day, Dozier was selected as one of the five candidates for the final roster spot on the AL All-Star team. He contributed a pair of singles and scored a run after starting the season 1 for 33.

Wong put the Cardinals (54-28) up 2-0 on an RBI single to Chris Coghlan out in left field shortly after Yadier Molina plated the first run of the ballgame on a sacrifice fly to Jorge Soler. Peter Bourjos hit an RBI double with two outs and scored on a single by Xavier Scruggs.

In the opener, the Rays had rallied to knot the game 5-all before Orlando came to the plate in the ninth. We had some bets going into the game, a little trash talk involved.

Kolten Wong could be held out of the series finale after suffering a head injury in Tuesday’s opening game, forcing Carpenter to make his first start at second base since 2013 in the second game. The Cardinals gave Motte a bit of trouble after he gave up a couple singles to lead off the inning. The five runs were more than the right-hander allowed in his previous four games combined, a stretch that included a no-hitter and a one-hitter. He was slow to get up and was replaced in the seventh. Soriano was signed June 9 and had been in the Dominican Republic waiting for his immigration situation to clear up.

Let’s not get too carried away though, there’s still plenty of season left and the Cubs have yet to show they can consistently compete with the elite (i.e. St. Louis).