Game 2 of the greatest rivalry in baseball finished with late inning heroics from the razzle dazzle of the 11x Gold Glove of Nolan Arenado as the Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 8-7 on Tuesday night with the help of a heated Cardinal line-up.
Cardinals starter Michael McGreevy was recalled from Memphis to make his third start of the season in another sweltering night in St. Louis. McGreevy only pitched 4.2 innings, but the young starter showed mental toughness after pitching around a 5-run 3rd inning to give his teammates a chance to win, which is worth the world for a team now only 2.5 GB behind the Chicago Cubs.
After the Two-Run Homer Derby from Monday night’s win, the Cardinals added three more bombs to the series, two in two-run homer fashion off the bats of DH Lars Nootbaar (11)- his second of the series and shortstop Masyn Winn (7) as well as a solo shot served to center from DH Nolan Gorman (6). The Cardinals envisioned the Cubs to be the slugging team this series, as most of their runs this week have come from the long ball, but in the first two games of the series, the Birds have already sent seven balls to find new nests.
But the rising power of the Cards wasn’t the nail in the coffin on this Tuesday night win: it was heads up base running by the speedy Masyn Winn after he scored on a sac-fly from second base; a mental mistake by Cubbies as center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong forgot how many outs there were. By the time the clouds in Crow-Armstrong’s head cleared, 3rd base coach Pop Warner was already giving Winn the windmill, sending him home to ultimately score the Cardinals winning run.
“I wanted to do that since Low-A. I did it once there and he (Crow-Armstrong) gave me the opportunity,” Winn said during the post-game interview about Pete Crow-Armstrong’s mental error. “I barely beat it, and he took his sweet time too. It was nice that we got it in there.”
The Cardinals continue to pay attention to the little details both on the base paths and on the field, as the Redbirds displayed the A+ defense tonight. Alec “Biscuit” Burleson crashed into the 1st base netting and seats to catch a fly ball in foul ground and sacrificed his body; reminiscent of Nolan Arenado’s play in the 9th inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Arenado ended the game with an insane bare-handed play across the diamond to end the game and seal a win in game 2.
The bullpen answered the call yet again to hold a relentless Chicago offense. Following McGreevy, Steven Matz had an uncharacteristic hiccup, giving up two runs in 1.1 innings, yet earned the win. Jojo Romero pitched around traffic in the 7th, and Phil Maton picked him up with a 1.1 inning gem, handing the ball to Ryan Helsley, who earned another nail-biting save in the 9th. Nolan Arenado’s defensive magic broke Chicago’s little heart in an 8-7 win.
“You never know which play, which run, which at-bat is going to be the most meaningful one of the game and our guys continue to play each pitch with a ton of heart,” Cardinal’s manager Oli Marmol said concerning the team’s relentless approach.
St. Louis is 44-36 and jumped up in the NL central tied with the Milwaukee Brewers for 2nd place, 2.5 GB behind the Cubs. The Redbirds look to tomorrow to win the series in game 3 at 6:45 PM CDT.
I'm a writer trying to make his mark in the baseball journalism world. I graduated with a journalism degree from Union University where I pitched four years of D2 baseball.
