Game Fifteen – Cubs 3, Cardinals 5
WP – Carlos Martinez (3-0) LP – Kyle Hendricks (1-2) Save – Trevor Rosenthal (4)
The Cubs scored two runs in the eighth inning after play resumed following a three-hour and 21 minute rain delay. But the Cubs ended up short and dropped the series finale to the Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon.
The Cubs won the first round of the season series with the Cardinals after taking the first two games on Monday and Tuesday night.
Anthony Rizzo (2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI) drove in two of the three runs and he was robbed of a two-run homer in the first inning on a leaping catch by Randal Grichuk. Rizzo blasted a solo homer in the fourth inning that was the Cubs lone run before rain delayed the game.
Dexter Fowler (2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored) was on-base three more times and scored in the eighth. Fowler singled to start the eighth against Seung Hwan Oh with the Cubs trailing 4-1. Jason Heyward (1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored) walked and put two on with no outs for Ben Zobrist (0-for-3 with a walk). Zobrist lined out to deep right. Fowler tagged and went to third.
With runners on the corners and one down, Anthony Rizzo singled to right. Fowler scored, 4-2 Cardinals, and Heyward went to third on the play. Kris Bryant (0-for-4 with a RBI) rolled a 1-2 pitch past the mound. Wong fielded the ball and tagged Rizzo. Bryant reached as Heyward scored and cut the Cardinals lead to 4-3. Tommy La Stella (0-for-3 with a walk) flied out to end the eighth.
The Cardinals put the game away in the bottom of the eighth. Adam Warren replaced Trevor Cahill and issued a walk to Randal Grichuk. With Molina at the plate, the Cubs had Grichuk picked off first base. The ball got away from Rizzo. Grichuk went to second and scored on a Yadier Molina single to left.
Trevor Rosenthal struck out the side in order (Miguel Montero, Javier Baez, Jorge Soler) in the ninth to end the game.
Kyle Hendricks had a rough day. Hendricks was off in the first two innings and the Cardinals took advantage of his very poor location. Hendricks appeared to miss in the middle of the plate and up. The Cardinals jumped on Hendricks’ mistakes and scored four runs in the first two innings.
Hendricks served up a two-run homer to Matt Holliday in the first inning. Holliday’s homer appeared to get a little help from the wind. Hendricks missed and allowed Holliday to extend his arms. Hendricks got out of the first inning. But he continued to struggle in the second inning.
The Cardinals scored two more runs off Hendricks in the second. One on a wild pitch on a 0-2 offering to Aledmys Diaz that allowed Yadier Molina to lumber in from third base. Kolten Wong moved to second on the wild pitch, promptly stole third and scored on a bloop single from Carlos Martinez. Maddon moved his infield in and the ball landed just fair down the right field line.
Kyle Hendricks settled down and ended up giving his manager innings. Hendricks has to pitch better than he did Wednesday. Hendricks had little to no movement, missed his spots and basically threw batting practice over the first two-plus innings of the game. Hendricks allowed three extra basehits to the first seven hitters and there was a deep fly to center mixed in.
The Cubs streak of starting pitchers completing at least six innings ended at 14 games on Wednesday afternoon. Hendricks turned the game over to the bullpen with runners on first and second with one out in the sixth. Clayton Richard and Neil Ramirez picked up the last two outs in the sixth and closed the book on Hendricks.
Kyle Hendricks allowed four runs on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Hendricks made 84 pitches, 51 for strikes, in 5 1/3 innings.
Trevor Cahill started the seventh after the lengthy rain delay and retired three of the four batters he faced. The Cardinals added on with help from the Cubs’ defense in the eighth against Adam Warren.
Cubs’ pitching gave up five runs, four earned, on nine hits with three walks and seven strikeouts. And the Cubs offense managed three runs on five hits with four walk and struck out eight times.
Wednesday’s game, including the rain delay, took six hours and one-minute to complete.
With Wednesday’s loss, the Cubs slipped to 11-4 on the season.
The Cubs and Reds open a four-game series on Thursday night (6:10pm CDT) in Cincinnati … Jake Arrieta versus Brandon Finnegan.