Cardinals fall 5-4 against Cubs, but clinch playoff spot

The Chicago Cubs looked to complete a three-game series sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals, but missed opportunities prevented that from happening.

St. Louis Cardinals closing pitcher Trevor Rosenthal (44), celebrates with catcher Tony Cruz (48), after defeating the Chicago Cubs 4-3 in a baseball game Sunday, September 20, 2015 in Chicago. In fact, Matheny said the two games off Molina received in the past week were related to the catcher being “beat up” but not any concerns with his right hand, injured last season.

Heyward’s throw was ideal, and Rizzo was out by a a good margin.

Molina left a game against the Milwaukee Brewers on April 24 after taking a foul tip off of his right knee protector. “We are going to have to use the bats a little more, to be more successful”. The Cubs still have an excellent chance at hosting the wild-card game, since they only have to tie, not pass, the Bucs. Rosenthal then struck out pinch-hitter Javier Soler and retired Kyle Schwarber on a groundout. On Monday, Cardinals fans are likely to learn if ace Adam Wainwright is really going to make an improbably comeback after suffering what was expected to be a season-ending achilles injury.

After the game, Cubs manager Joe Maddon told reporters, “I don’t know who put out the hit”.

“Earlier in the year, we were not able to hold on against these guys late”, Maddon said.

Although they couldn’t secure their fifth-straight post-season spot with a win, the Cards advanced when the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the World Series champion San Francisco Giants 6-0. The Cubs are comfortably in position for a wild card. In case you haven’t noticed, they’ve proved that, winning six of the last nine games they’ve played. Coghlan’s intent to injure was slim, but for these two incidents to occur in back-to-back games we have to ask if the Cubs are actually a dirty baseball team.

Center fielder Tommy Pham and left fielder Stephen Piscotty homered as the Cardinals snapped Chicago’s five-game winning streak on Sunday. With bases still loaded, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny makes his third switch and called double-play specialist Seth Maness to the mound to face rookie Addison Russell (.239 BA) with no outs on the board. Martinez went 6.1 innings, had six strikeouts, taking out the side in three of his innings pitched. In his third, he gave up the two earned runs scored against him.

In Cleveland, Carlos Rodon allowed one run while pitching into the eighth inning. Broxton got ahead of Kris Bryant 1-2, but threw three straight balls to load the bases. St. Louis won the season series 11-8.

The two batters that Kevin Siegrist faced in the eighth both reach, the final one on a walk. Berry attempts his 26 consecutive stolen base. Morales hit three solo shots and scored five runs. After 2 minutes, 17 seconds of review in New York, it was determined that Castro was indeed hit by the pitch. Teheran’s bid was spoiled by Freddy Galvis’ leadoff single in the seventh.

The Houston Astros had a 10-6 win over the Oakland Athletics, the Texas Rangers trounced the Seattle Mariners 10-1, the Colorado Rockies dominated the San Diego Padres 10-2, the Detroit Tigers overcame the Kansas City Royals 6-5 over 11 innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates were 3-2 winners over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Lester got his second out with Jhonny Peralta hitting into a fielders choice, Heyward out at second.

Lester has been terrific in his last two starts, allowing two runs over 16 innings in key matchups against division rivals.