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Controversy ensues late in Cardinals loss

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Following a 7-4 loss earlier in the afternoon, the St. Louis Cardinals faced off against the Chicago Cubs in game two of the doubleheader on Tuesday night.

St. Louis looked to make up for the loss just a few hours prior.

However, the Cubs had other plans in mind.

The Cubs were able to take full momentum late in the game, and sweep the doubleheader with a 5-3 victory.

Cardinals Second baseman Kolten Wong, who made an amazing diving catch once again during the first game of the doubleheader, was not in the lineup, as he had landed on the side of his face, and was tested for a concussion. He has been diagnosed with a mild concussion, according to the test results.

The pitchers for the game were Tim Cooney (0-0, 5.40 ERA) for the Cardinals, going up against Dallas Beeler (2015 debut) for the Cubs.

Both young pitchers threw scoreless innings early on in the game, but the Cardinals blew a golden opportunity to score (and possibly break the game wide open) in the top of the fourth inning. The inning began with Matt Carpenter singling. Jhonny Peralta came up to bat, hitting a ball that forced out Carpenter at second base, but Peralta was able to reach first. Jason Heyward then singled, followed by a walk to Yadier Molina, loading up the bases with one out.

But Beeler got out of the inning by getting Mark Reynolds to strike out for the second out. And with the bases loaded and two outs, the young prospect Xavier Scruggs grounded out to end the inning, with the game still a scoreless tie.

During the bottom of the fifth, just like the first game in the doubleheader, the Cubs took the lead first. Starlin Castro led off with a double. Taylor Teagarden then hit a single, scoring Castro, to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead.

St. Louis was able to knot it up at 1-1 in the top of the sixth inning. After a lead off walk to Carpenter, Peralta singled, putting Carpenter on third. Heyward then grounded into a force out, reaching safely on base while Peralta was out at second, and scoring Carpenter to tie the game up. And the Cardinals weren’t done yet. Later in the inning, with two outs and Heyward on third (advancing from first to third after two wild pitches by reliever Justin Grimm), Reynolds singled, scoring Heyward making it 2-1.

The seventh inning, however, was when the controversy began to occur. With one out, Miguel Montero walked and Jonathan Herrera singled, putting Montero on second. Addison Russell then hit a single barely over the first base line in what appeared to be a foul ball by many, scoring Montero. The play, by rule, was not a reviewable one (fair/foul calls in the infield are not reviewable).

Pitcher Seth Maness was not pleased, and, after arguing with Pat Hoberg, was ejected from the game, and reliever Kevin Siegrist was brought in. Dexter Fowler then reached base on a throwing error by Siegrist, scoring Herrera, making it 4-2. Anthony Rizzo hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Russell, to giving the Cubs a 5-2 lead over the Cardinals.

In the top of the ninth inning, Randal Grichuk and Peter Bourjos hit back to back singles, and, after a Pete Kozma fly out, Tony Cruz singled, scoring Grichuk, to make it 5-3. But it wasn’t enough, as the Cardinals fell to the Cubs again, 5-3.

The Cardinals fell to 54-30, as the Cubs improve to 46-37. Travis Wood got the win, his fifth of the year. Maness, meanwhile, got the loss, his first. Former Cardinal Jason Motte earned his fifth save of the year.

Tomorrow, Michael Wacha takes the mound as the Cardinals look to split the series against the Cubs.

 

 

 

 

(AP Photo/David Banks)

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2 comments

Drew Jordan July 7, 2015 - 22:24

mmmhmmm

Harvsbuddy July 8, 2015 - 00:13

I think you meant to use “knot it up.”

Comments are closed.