Chicago Cubs' 6 homers beat St. Louis Cardinals 8-6
Remember when the Chicago Cubs used to talk about their "core" of young players as something to build on for the future?
That core was on display in its full flower Monday night at Wrigley Field. The Cubs got home runs from Kyle Schwarber, Starlin Castro, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Jorge Soler during an 8-6 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals before 42,411 fans. Veteran Dexter Fowler, an old man by current Cubs standards, got in on the fun with a solo homer in the eighth.
"Nothing with these younger guys ceases to amaze me," Fowler said. "When they came up, they made an immediate impact. That's all you can ask for."
Cubs fans are asking for just one more thing: a victory Tuesday night. Monday's win gave the Cubs a two-games-to-one lead in this best-of-five National League division series.
Jason Hammel takes the ball for the Cubs in Game 4, and if they win, they'll move on to the NL championship series for the first time since 2003.
People around Chicago know all about the Cubs' young players. Monday night may have been a coming-out party and an introduction to the rest of the country.
"I hope so," said Rizzo, the leader among the young guns. He hit a solo homer in the fifth inning, right after Bryant hit a 2-run shot. "We've been doing this all year. Ninety-seven wins is only good for third in our division, but we've had a really big year, developing guys, having guys come in and take us to this point. We've just got to keep going."
The Cubs performed in record fashion Monday. Their 6 home runs set a major-league record for a postseason game. The 1984 Cubs were one of five teams with 5 homers, in Game 1 of the NLCS against the Padres.
On top of that, each of the first six hitters in the Cubs lineup hit a home run.
"This is what we play for," Rizzo said. "This is why we show up to spring training early and get our work in the winter time. You see all those moments from '03 and '08 on the videoboard, guys having big moments. These are big moments happening right now. We're enjoying them."
The Cubs entered this game feeling good about their chances with ace pitcher Jake Arrieta on the mound. Even though Arrieta got the win to improve to 2-0 in the postseason, he wasn't as sharp as he was in last Wednesday's complete-game victory in the wild-card playoff at Pittsburgh.
Arrieta lasted 5⅔ innings, giving up 5 hits and 4 runs. It was the first time he did not record a quality start since the middle of June.
"I felt good," he said. "I got out of rhythm with some uncharacteristic walks. It's a different environment in the playoffs. You have to control your emotions and try and conserve energy when you have the ability to do so."
Schwarber gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead in the second when he lined a pitch from Cardinals starter Michael Wacha into the left-field bleachers. The Cardinals got 2 against Arrieta in the fourth before Starlin Castro tied it in the bottom of the inning with a homer to left-center.
After losing his starting shortstop job in the second half of the season and spending time on the bench, Castro's resurgence has been one of the nicest stories down the stretch. He had become almost something of a forgotten man.
I don't think they forget about me," he said of the team. "I've been here for a lot of times, bad times, and now we found a way, and now we're a good team."
Bryant and Rizzo accounted for a 3-run fifth with their back-to-back homers. In the sixth, Soler hit one to left-center.
In the process, he set a major-league record by reaching base safely in his first 9 plate appearances to begin his postseason career.
"I've got a tremendous amount of confidence right now," he said through translator Dave Martinez, the Cubs' bench coach. "I'm seeing the ball really well."
On a night when the wind was howling out at 17 mph, the Cubs bullpen came on and shut down the Cardinals for much of the rest of the way.
Clayton Richard and Trevor Cahill, a pair of in-season pickups, pitched scoreless ball, as did Travis Wood, who moved from the starting rotation to the pen this season. Pedro Strop, who got hit in St. Louis, worked a scoreless eighth. Closer Hector Rondon came on with the Cubs leading 8-4 in the ninth and gave up a 2-run homer to Stephen Piscotty with two outs, but that was as close as the Cardinals would get.
Once again, the party was in the Cubs clubhouse.
"It's incredible," Rizzo said. "It's one of those moments, one of those magical moments at Wrigley that hopefully people are talking about for generations and generations."