Miles: Fateful seventh inning sinks Cubs
And to think things were going reasonably well for the Cubs Monday night at Wrigley Field.
Starting pitcher Jon Lester was on the mound and looking sharp. He had a no-hitter going until Jhonny Peralta broke it up with a solid single off the glove of Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant, who tried to make a backhand play with one out in what turned out to be a fateful seventh inning as the Cardinals took a 2-0 lead on the way to a 6-0 victory.
Heavy rains hit in the middle of the eighth inning, forcing a delay. The Cardinals added 4 insurance runs in the ninth inning against Edwin Jackson.
On top of it all, Lester notched his first major-league hit in the second inning, when he singled off the body of his counterpart, Cardinals starting pitcher John Lackey.
"Worthless," said Lester, who was disappointed by the end result. "It's something you can't really enjoy right now."
As much as the Cubs have made strides this year toward contention and credibility, they still remain well behind their Gateway Arch rivals. At the halfway point of their season, the Cubs have a record of 44-37. The Cardinals are 54-28 and leading the National League Central.
"They're a veteran team," said Lester, who fell to 4-7 with a 3.48 ERA as he worked 7 innings, giving up 2 hits and 2 unearned runs. "They do everything right. They make plays when they're in front of them. They have timely hitting. They understand that it takes nine innings to win a baseball game. We're close."
The Cubs had chances to score. They left the bases loaded in the second on a called third strike to Addison Russell. Newly minted all-stars Anthony Rizzo and Bryant opened the bottom of the sixth with singles, putting runners on first and third.
After Miguel Montero struck out, Starlin Castro hit the ball hard, but second baseman Kolten Wong came up with it and started a nifty 4-6-3 double play.
The seventh started innocently enough for Lester, who struck out Matt Carpenter. The no-hit bid ended when Peralta rocketed the ball toward the third-base bag. Bryant could only knock it down on the backhand.
Things didn't get much better for Bryant when he backhanded Jason Heyward's grounder and tried to throw to second to start a double play. But his throw went into right field for an error.
True to form, the Cardinals pounced.
Yadier Molina hit a sacrifice fly to right field, and Wong followed with an RBI single to left field.
The Cubs entered the game holding down the second wild-card spot, and the announcement that Rizzo and Bryant had made the all-star team seemed a little more satisfying because the Cubs have something to play for.
"It just shows that we're on the right pace, and I know everyone believes that," Rizzo said. "The city is really rallying behind us. We really do a have a good thing going."
Manager Joe Maddon urged reporters to look past the 4-run ninth inning and said he is happy with where his team is at the halfway point.
"Don't take that one bad inning and blow the whole thing up," he said. "Please. It was a bad ninth inning after sitting on our butts (during the delay) and all of the above. We didn't play that ninth inning well. I agree. Otherwise, I was pleased with our performance tonight."
bmiles@dailyherald.com