The NL wildcard race is crazy.
St. Louis Cardinals climb to within 3.5 games of NL wildcard with Sunday win over Cubs originally appeared on The Sporting News
The St. Louis Cardinals took two out of three from divisional rival Chicago Cubs behind a strong outing from Sonny Gray and a Nolan Gorman base hit late to win the game 3-2.
Gorman, who made a costly error at third base earlier in the game, got a big two-out hit to drive in Jordan Walker, who singled and stole second base.
Gray tossed seven strong innings, allowing just five hits and two runs. Only one of them was earned, as Matt Shaw took him deep to tie the game. Gray finished the game with seven strikeouts and just a single walk.
Riley O'Brien got the first two outs of the eighth inning. After retiring the first two batters, he allowed a two-out walk to Seiya Suzuki. JoJo Romero came in to face Kyle Tucker, who jumped on the first pitch and singled to center field. That moved Suzuki to third base. Romero then faced Carson Kelly and got him to bounce out to shortstop.
After a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth, Justin Turner pinch hit for Pete Crow-Armstrong and flied out to center off Romero. Manager Oli Marmol left Romero in to face Ian Happ, who walked. On the first pitch, pinch runner Jon Berti was caught stealing second base. Nico Hoerner then singled on the next pitch to left field. Dansby Swanson was the final hope for the Cubs, and he also singled to left field.
That moved the game to the Cubs' only run producer of the night, and that was Matt Shaw. He was 3-for-6 in the series with two long balls. Romero stayed in the game and got ahead with a 95 mph fastball up and in. The second pitch just missed the outside corner, and the next pitch was a weak ground ball to second base.
Shota Imanaga was also strong for Chicago. He went 6.2 innings, allowing just four hits, which included a two-run home run from Pedro Pages. Imanaga struck out nine batters and did not walk anyone. He allowed three runs and took a hard-fought loss.
The Cardinals moved to 60-59 with the win, and are now just 3.5 games behind the New York Mets for the final wildcard in the NL. The Cardinals have moved ahead of the San Francisco Giants, and they are two back of the Cincinnati Reds.
St. Louis will remain at home for a series starting on Monday against the Colorado Rockies. With Thursday off, the Cardinals will then welcome the New York Yankees to town on Friday.
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The loss for the Cubs dropped them to 67-50. While Chicago is now six games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central, they are still sitting in a comfortable spot, six games ahead of Cincinnati, and currently sitting ahead of the Padres and Mets for the top wildcard spot.
Chicago is on the road at the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday, starting a three-game series. Following that, the Cubs will host the Pittsburgh Pirates for a three-game weekend at Wrigley Field.
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Category: Baseball
