Two home runs cost Cubs in loss to Cardinals |
St Louis - Randal Grichuk hit a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Cubs 4-3 on Monday night. The loss was the eighth for Chicago in its last twelve games.
Grichuk had two hits in the game including his sixth homer that was the game winner off of Adam Warren (3-1). Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal (2-1) picked the win after getting out of a tough jam in the top of the ninth. The Cubs had runners on first and third with one out after singles by Dexter Fowler and Ben Zobrist. But Rosenthal got Anthony Rizzo to hit a soft liner to third where Fowler got doubled off to end the threat. Cubs got two runs in the fourth on an RBI single by Miguel Montero and an RBI groundout by Addison Russell. It was the first runs the Cubs had scored on Adam Wainwright since May 13, 2014 (20 IP scoreless in 3 previous starts). Chicago went up 3-1 on an Anthony Rizzo's RBI single to score Kris Bryant in the 5th. In the seventh, Mike Adams hit a pinch-hit two-run homer to tie the game and spoil a good performance by John Lackey in his return to St. Louis. Lackey ended the night with 7.0 innings pitched, giving up just 4 hits, three runs and striking out nine. Game two of the series will be Tuesday at 6:10 p.m. CT when Jason Hammel (5-1, 2.31) faces Michael Wacha (2-4, 4.03).
