Record-setting day of postseason homers, runs

Jason Heyward and the St. Louis Cardinals did exactly what they wanted to do against Jake Arrieta. However, Matheny said he’s more concerned about getting the additional offense especially against a pitcher that hasn’t yielded a run in 31 innings. If necessary, game five will be played Thursday in St. Louis. The Cubs are probably considering it a night game.

Russell, the next batter, squeezed in another run, and Dexter Fowler had an RBI infield hit before Soler drove a high 2-2 pitch over the centre field wall. We can only hope that near-term history repeats itself, because this Cubs team has made it clear that they don’t care about anything else. Jake Arrietta’s masterful performance against the Pirates ended the streak.

It’s magnified by the fact that the Cubs staff, on the whole, was perhaps the best in baseball this season. When the Cubs did return to the post season, they were swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2007 and the Dodgers in 2008.

All they need to do is hold off the Cardinals, who will not go down without a fight.

Many Cubs fans thought the Bartman incident and the Curse of the Billy Goat were similar. It has been a very long time since Wrigley has had this setup. The curse seems to be over. Consecutive shots by Wong and pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk with two outs in the fifth chased Hendricks one out shy of qualifying for the victory in his postseason debut.

Arrieta will take the mound against Michael Wacha in Game 3.

Flexibility and depth have been keys to the Cubs success since opening day. Of the current players who have faced him, they have a. 311 batting average and.

Schwarber, Castro and Bryant homered against Michael Wacha. Both have taken him out of the park twice. In his three-year career, he has made six postseason appearances in which he accumulated a 3.48 ERA.

When the Cubs acquired Arrieta midway through the 2013 season, he was a 27-year-old former top prospect with a 7.23 ERA and 1.775 WHIP. Arrieta, an NL Cy Young Award candidate, has been lights out since his last loss July 25, going 11-0 in 13 starts while allowing only six earned runs in that span. He is 9-5 with a 1.95 ERA at home on the season.

“Pretty impressive, ” Maddon said. Pair that with an uptick in home runs, seven in the month, Wacha went 2-3 giving up 21 runs – 10 to the same Cubs he’ll face Monday. Matt Carpenter, Matt Holliday, Jhonny Peralta and Yadier Molina are a combined 3-for-28 with two RBIs in the first two games of the series. “Just facing a different guy”.

He gave up homers to Kyle Schwarber in the second, Starlin Castro in the fourth to tie the game at 2-2 and a two run blast by rookie of the year candidate Kris Bryant.

[Photo by David Banks / Getty Images]Jake Arrieta and the Cubs will be trying to erase years of frustration and bring a championship to the city of Chicago.

The Cardinals certainly qualify as a good team.

The Chicago Cubs have given their fans a season to remember. “When you win a wild-card game like we did, I guarantee you, you settle in”.

It’s hard to believe that although the Cubs-Cardinals rivalry is one of the biggest in all of sports, the two teams had never met in the postseason.

The Cardinals have shown a propensity for beating elite pitchers.