Chicago Cubs battle back but fall in opener
ST. LOUIS — Turn on the lights, the party's over. And the Chicago Cubs hope a new one is starting.
After a World Series celebration that lasted an entire off-season, the Cubs opened defense of their title under the bright lights of Busch Stadium on Sunday night against their Gateway Arch rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals.
On a gorgeous early-April evening that turned rainy by game's end, the two teams squared off before a national television audience on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball.
The Cubs flashed some of the fighting spirit they showed last year, rallying to tie the game at 3-3 in the ninth inning on Willson Contreras' 3-run homer. But Randal Grichuk hurt the Cubs in the bottom half with a bases-loaded single off the wall in left field to give the Cardinals a 4-3 victory. In the eighth, Grichuk hit a 2-run homer off Pedro Strop to put St. Louis up 3-0.
“We came back,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “Obviously the 3-run homer is a nice play on our part. We just had bad location on the pitch to Grichuk, and it ended up being a home run. I loved the way we battled once again.”
To hear the Cubs tell it, they've turned the page from 2016 and are ready for the challenges of 2017. Maddon said that happened during spring training.
“I thought we did a really good job,” he said before the game. “I thought our guys handled spring training extremely well. I'm very proud of the way they went about it. Honestly, if you walked in our clubhouse during camp, I don't think you could have recognized that we just came off wining a World Series. I mean that in a really good way.
“The work was spectacular. Interaction's been the same. Leadership is there. Young guys are still aspiring to get better. For me, mentally, the page has been turned. I think symbolically it will be turned next week. I think the ring ceremony should be the turning of the page. I'm not one normally into symbolism, but I think if you're looking for it from us, that's it.”
That sentiment was echoed in the Cubs' clubhouse. Starting pitcher Jon Lester lasted 5 innings, running his pitch count to 102, but he gave up only 1 run. Lester admitted his command was off, but as far as the team goes, he felt everybody was ready to go.
“I thought it was kind of business as usual,” he said. “I didn't really see anybody get overamped or whatever you want to call it. Everybody was ready to play. The one thing that is really, really unique about this team, how young they are and how they're able soon as the lights turn on to turn that switch on.”
Former Cub Dexter Fowler scored the game's first run as the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the third. Fowler led off with a single to the right side of the infield past Lester. Aledmys Diaz singled, sending Fowler to third. A line-drive sacrifice fly to right by Matt Carpenter brought Fowler home.
The rain that came near the end of the game was reminiscent of Game 7 of the World Series, when a 17-minute rain delay allowed the Cubs to regroup and defeat the Cleveland Indians after a team meeting called by Jason Heyward.
“Believe me, believe me, believe me, I thought about it,” Maddon said. “That's just our method, to have a little rain. We just didn't have a team meeting.”
“We didn't need any (speech),” Heyward said. “Willy (Contreras) made it rain. It was fun. Obviously there's irony in that, but it was fun for us to be out there again.”