ST. LOUIS (AP) Randal Grichuk told reporters Monday afternoon that his sore back was OK. A few hours later, Grichuk proved it with his first career walk-off home run.
Grichuk’s solo homer in the bottom of the ninth lifted the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-3 win over the Chicago Cubs.
“I was trying to battle and get a pitch in the zone and put good wood on it and get on,” Grichuk said. “Luckily, I was able to get a homer.”
Matt Adams tied the score with a two-run homer in the seventh for St. Louis’ major league-leading ninth pinch-hit homer of the season. It also ended a streak of 13 innings of one-run pitching by Chicago starter John Lackey against his former team.
“This is a team that can do damage in a hurry,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “That’s something we haven’t had in the past as much, the ability for quite a few guys in that lineup that feel good about getting the ball over the fence and create instant offense.”
Grichuk drove a 2-2 pitch off of Adam Warren (3-1) for the win.
Adams drove a high change-up to straight-away center to revive what was a stagnant offense against Lackey. It was Adams’ second pinch-hit homer this season and he’s hitting .500 off the bench.
“It’s no secret,” Adams said. “I just make sure I’m ready to go when my name’s called.”
Trevor Rosenthal (2-1) pitched a scoreless ninth.
The Cubs’ Ben Zobrist had three singles and a walk, extending his streak to 29 starts with reaching safely. He is hitting .387 during that span.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrxFhx56kuI
St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright pitched in and out of trouble throughout his six innings, scattering seven hits and stranding eight runners, while throwing 68 of his 108 pitches for strikes.
“I had great stuff tonight,” Wainwright said. “I loved my stuff. I just have to attack a little better than I did in a couple of those innings. But that stuff translates. That’s going to play well the rest of the season.”
Lackey gave up three runs in seven economical innings. He struck out nine while throwing just 87 pitches.
“He was really, really, sharp,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “They hit a lot of pop ups, a lot of soft contact.”
Miguel Montero‘s second single of the game tied it at 1-1 in the fourth, breaking a 26-inning scoreless streak Wainwright had against the Cubs dating back to May 13, 2014.
Javier Baez followed with a bunt, but was awarded an infield single after Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong failed to backup first on the play, setting up a fielder’s choice from Addison Russell that made it 2-1 Cubs.
Anthony Rizzo drove in his 35th run of the year with a broken-bat single in the fifth.
“Sometimes in my position when they’ve pushed couple across, they get ducks on the pond, you have to limit those innings and keep your team in the game and we kept it close enough so (Adams) could make a big swing and (Grichuk) could make a big swing,” Wainwright said.
Aledmys Diaz gave the Cardinals’ an early lead with a sacrifice fly in the third.
FLYIN’ HAWAIIAN RELEASED
The Cubs released OF Shane Victorino from his minor league contract. Victorino won World Series titles with Philadelphia and Boston and played earlier this month for Triple-A Iowa.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cubs: OF Jason Heyward (contusion) took swings in the batting cage and did other exercises. He was out of the lineup for s second straight game and is day-to-day.
“If it was up to me I’d be playing right now, but obviously you have to go through stuff and test it out,” Heyward said. “We’ll see what they say and we’ll see how it feels after a couple of days.”
Cardinals: SS Jhonny Peralta (thumb) went back to Single A-Peoria after being examined by the team Sunday. Peralta, who Matheny said was progressing, was placed on a 20-day rehabilitation assignment on May 20.
UP NEXT
Cubs: RHP Jason Hammel (5-1, 2.31 ERA) will make his second start of the season against St. Louis. He earned the win, allowing one run in six innings on April 19 and is 3-3 with a 5.26 ERA in eight career starts against the Cardinals.
Cardinals: RHP Michael Wacha (2-4, 4.03 ERA) is trying to break a career-long four-game losing streak. He is 3-3 with a 4.86 ERA in 10 career appearances against Chicago.
