Being able to hold on key for Cubs, bad news for others

We'll dispense with the hit-by-pitch nonsense for a moment because there were bigger and more important things happening Saturday at Wrigley Field.

The most important of which was another Cubs victory over St. Louis, this time by a 5-4 count, giving the Cubs the first two games in this three-game series and moving them within 5 games of the first-place Cardinals in the National League Central.

But how the Cubs won this game says a lot:

• First, they won on a designated "bullpen day," when manager Joe Maddon used relief pitchers from start to finish while the Cardinals started Michael Wacha, a 16-game winner.

• Second, the Cubs were forced to hold on at the end, because closer Hector Rondon was tossed out of the game - along with Maddon - for hitting pinch hitter Greg Garcia to start the ninth inning with the Cubs ahead 5-1.

Lefty Zac Rosscup was totally ineffective, as he gave up a 2-run homer to Matt Carpenter. Finally, Pedro Strop came in and gave up a sacrifice fly before the game ended on a spectacular diving stop by shortstop Addison Russell for the forceout at second base.

Now here's the thing, according to Maddon.

"We didn't hold on to it earlier in the year," he said. "That's the difference between then and now. Earlier in the year, we were not able to hold on against these guys late. Now we're holding on, and that's a good thing. I said at the beginning of the year they're out-experiencing us. Right now, we're catching up in that regard."

That could be ominous news for the Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates, whose leads in the division and wild-card races, respectively, are shrinking every day to the Cubs, who might be the best team in baseball right now, based only on how they've been playing since August.

On Saturday, they got to Wacha with a pair of runs in the first inning. In the five recent games against the Cardinals, including three in St. Louis on the last road trip, the Cubs have scored a total of 10 runs.

Back-to-back home runs by Jorge Soler and Kris Bryant gave the Cubs a 4-1 lead in the fifth, and they added another in the sixth.

In the wake of Friday's hit-by-pitch contretemps, the teams were on a bit of an edge Saturday. In the sixth inning, Cubs reliever Trevor Cahill hit Kolten Wong. The teams were warned in the eighth when Fernando Rodney hit Wong.

When Rondon hit Garcia to start the ninth, home-plate umpire Bruce Dreckman calmly walked toward Rondon and told him to leave, along with Maddon.

"The umpire came to me and just said to me, 'I know it's not on purpose, but you have to go out, and I take it," Rondon said.

Maddon, who ripped into the Cardinals on Friday for their perceived sanctimony on "how to play the game," was more subtle Saturday.

"That's just an interpretation by the umpires," he said. "(We're) obviously not trying to do that right there. The umpires had the ability to exercise their own baseball acumen and judgment in that moment. There was a lot of pressure coming from the other side to do what eventually did happen. I'm not going to pass judgment. I'm a very nonjudgmental person, actually, probably because it worked out in our favor."

It worked out largely because Strop shut it down, earning a day at the beach Sunday, according to Maddon. And Russell's diving stop sent the crowd of 40,994 into an absolute tizzy. Russell entered the game for defense in the eighth inning.

"That's the best I've ever seen in a baseball game personally," Bryant said. "It was a lot of fun, both sides really competing. Addison, I think that's probably the best play I've seen, given the circumstances, where we're at in the season.

"To come in and make a play like that, you just can't make these things up."

• Follow Bruce's baseball reports on Twitter @BruceMiles2112.