Cubs win in extras as Cardinals rivalry heats up
The Chicago Cubs have the market cornered on crazy finishes.
"I was just saying, we have a walk-off walk, a wild pitch and a bunt by a pitcher, so it's one of those things where it's going our way, and we just want it to keep going our way," said Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who drew a bases-loaded walk against Zach Duke in the bottom of the 11th inning Thursday night to give the Cubs a 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field.
The victory was the Cubs' 10th in a row, and it widened their lead over the Cardinals to 13 games in the National League Central.
"Especially playing the Cardinals, the emotions are a little higher," said Rizzo, the leader of a team that's 72-41. "We battle. That's what we do every day. That's kind of our identity of who we are."
This was the opener of a four-game series that may well wrap up the division early for the Cubs or give the Cardinals hope that they can be more than just wild-card contenders.
Once again, the Cubs all but emptied their bench, and they had a starting pitcher, John Lackey, warming up in the bullpen ready to pitch the 12th inning, if it went that far.
Lackey warmed up late in the 12-inning game on July 31, when the Cubs beat the Mariners 7-6 on a game-ending bunt by Jon Lester, another starting pitcher.
It just so happened that Lester started Thursday night's game, going 6 innings and giving up 5 hits and 2 runs.
"I guess just put Lack in the bullpen and let him warm up," Lester said when asked about the Cubs' late-inning magic. "It's just the sign of a good team. The close games, we grind out. That's definitely not the game I thought was going to happen tonight with the wind blowing out like it was. Glad we came out on top. That's all that matters."
A home run by Brandon Moss in the first inning gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. They added another in the sixth before the Cubs went ahead 3-2 with 3 in the bottom of the inning.
Speaking of crazy, Chris Coghlan tied the game with a 2-run single after he tried and failed to get time out. After that, catcher David Ross, bunted the go-ahead run home. All of this happened after two were out.
The Cardinals tied it in the seventh on a homer by Randal Grichuk off Travis Wood.
But the Cubs got good relief work from Justin Grimm and Aroldis Chapman, a strikeout artist who threw 3 pitches in the ninth inning, getting a pair of lineouts to third baseman Javier Baez and a groundout.
"He gets a steak dinner for that," said manager Joe Maddon of the 3-pitch inning by Chapman.
Lefty Mike Montgomery, who had not pitched since the nutty July 31 game against his former team, the Mariners, went the final 2 innings and got the win.
The Cubs opened the 11th with singles by Willson Contreras and Jorge Soler against Duke. Baez flied out before Dexter Fowler walked. After Kris Bryant struck out, Rizzo ended it with his walk.
"We've played that game several times this year," Maddon said.