Cubs eke out 2-0 win over Cardinals

Wednesday's game won't officially go down as a come-from-behind victory for the Cubs, but it sure felt that way to a couple of participants.

Starting pitcher Jake Arrieta didn't much like his pregame warm-up or his 22-pitch, 10-strike first inning.

And shortstop Starlin Castro had to sweat out an eighth-inning error right after his RBI single in the seventh broke a scoreless tie and put the Cubs on their way to a 2-0 victory over the Cardinals at Wrigley Field.

It gave Joe Maddon his first win as Cubs manager following Sunday night's 3-0 loss.

“Hector gave me the ball at the end of the game, and that was very sweet of him,” Maddon said, referring to closer Hector Rondon, who worked a 1-2-3 ninth to preserve the victory for Arrieta. “I'll keep that baseball, but I want to expect to do this a lot more often.”

Arrieta battled Cardinals starter Lance Lynn on a chilly, gray day. Nothing much happened until Lynn hit Anthony Rizzo with a pitch to start the bottom of the seventh. Lynn's throwing error on a pickoff attempt put Rizzo on second, and he scored when Castro lined a single to left and then alertly took second on the throw.

After Chris Coghlan's bunt, Castro scored on a sacrifice fly by Miguel Montero. Relievers Phil Coke, Neil Ramirez, Pedro Strop and Rondon did the rest.

For Arrieta, he picked up where he left off last year, when he emerged as the ace of the staff. Now, he's No. 2 behind Jon Lester. A winning decision in his first start came the hard way.

“It was, honestly, one of my worst pregames I've ever had,” he said. “Those things happen. Had some jitters and adrenaline going with the situation, first start of the year, against the Cardinals at home. Those things are expected. Have a good understanding of how to approach that, how to handle it, how to deal with it and move forward. That's what I was able to do.”

Arrieta added he liked the team attitude showed by the Cubs, especially on a day when Castro made an error and also failed to get a runner home from third base with one out in the fourth, when he struck out for the second time in the game.

“The quicker we can all get on that page and pick each other up, the better off we're going to be,” Arrieta said. “I talked to Castro between innings about keeping your head up, and he said the same to me. We each told each other, ‘I'm going to pick you up,' and he's going to pick me up. And he ended up coming through big for us.

“And those are the things that might not have happened last year. Just seeing some of the maturity from a guy like Castro and some of the other guys is what we need to take this thing to the next level.”

The manager noticed.

“He had a couple of tough at-bats,” Maddon said of Castro. “I really liked his game. He was upset with himself, and it was sincere. He was really upset after the strikeouts, but he came through at the appropriate moment. How about him going to second base on the throw to the plate? That error, it was kind of a weird hop from the dugout. I thought he had himself a really good day.

“I've always told guys it takes one at-bat to have a great night, and that's what he did, a good afternoon.”

Castro admitted being upset with himself, but it was all good in the postgame clubhouse.

“I got mad because I wanted to bring in that run,” he said. “I still had the confidence and got the job done. I told (Arrieta) the same thing: ‘We got your back now, we got your back,' and we scored 2 runs that inning and won the game.”