Cards go cold at the plate, waste Lynn's strong start against Chicago
CHICAGO -- A cold, foggy day at Wrigley Field exposed some potential weaknesses in a Cardinals lineup that's eager to heat up.
Manager Mike Matheny said just three hits often won't be enough to earn wins, and that's especially true for a team lacking in power. A heavy wind blowing in made things even tougher on the Cardinals, who fell to the Cubs 2-0 in the series finale.
St. Louis got runners in scoring position with two outs three times against Jake Arrieta, but never could get the hit it needed. Arrieta struck out Jhonny Peralta and Matt Adams to end the first two threats, then made a nice play on a hard bouncer to rob a potential hit from Jon Jay.
The middle of the Cardinals' lineup has struggled the first two games. Though Peralta hit a two-out double in the sixth, he and Adams fell to 0 for 8 this season with runners in scoring position.
But the Cardinals had enough good at-bats to make Arrieta throw 104 pitches in seven innings and hit three hard liners directly into the gloves of middle infielders.
"We had him well up over 20 pitches in the first inning and guys were working deep counts and he found it and fell into a good rhythm," Matheny said. "We put together some good at-bats late. It just wasn't enough."
3 UP
• Lynn looks strong. Lance Lynn could not have done much better against the first 10 batters he faced in 2015.
The right-hander retired all of them with five strikeouts before the Cubs got a hit, but still took a tough loss. Despite the final result, Lynn turned in the second consecutive quality outing from a Cards starter by allowing just two hits with nine strikeouts in six-plus innings of work.
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"I thought he was great," Matheny said. "(He) had a real good sinker and was using his cutter, his slider, taking a little bit off at times with the change."
• Reliable relief. For the second straight game, the Cards' bullpen didn't give up a single hit after six solid innings from the starter.
There wasn't a lead to hold onto this time, but left-hander Kevin Siegrist and right-hander Matt Belisle both struck out one in a solid inning of work. Siegrist said confidence from a strong spring carried over as he shut down the Cubs' rally, though they did score a second run on Miguel Montero's sacrifice fly.
"We like (Siegrist) against just about any lefty and Montero put together a good at-bat to drive in the second run," Matheny said. "But he came back the next batter and (he's) making good pitches and the ball's jumping well."
• Rotation ready to go. The Cardinals' starting pitchers used their extra rest days to make sure they're set for this weekend's series against the Reds.
Pitching proved to be the highlight of St. Louis' shortened two-game series in Chicago, and Matheny says his other starters continued to look sharp as they prepared for their 2015 debuts.
Carlos Martinez threw another session before Wednesday's game and Michael Wacha will likely get in an extra day of catch to make sure he's ready to go on Saturday, following John Lackey's first start of the year the night before.
3 DOWN
• No answer for Arrieta. The Cubs' talented righty continued to baffle the Cardinals' hitters.
Matheny said before the game Arrieta has the stuff and the arm to be great against anyone, but he's been especially dominant vs. St. Louis. After seven scoreless innings with three hits allowed and seven strikeouts, he's 3-0 in six starts with a 0.74 ERA, which is lower than any other pitcher with five starts against the Cardinals.
"He attacked us," Jay said. "He got ahead of us and he did a good job today of setting the tone. We just went out there and tried to battle as much as we can, but we fell short today."
• Jay's bad day. Randal Grichuk clearly outplayed Jay this spring, but that was never going to be enough to knock Jay out of the regular lineup heading into the season. He quieted doubters with a single and a double on Opening Night, but the veteran will want to avoid more days like Wednesday.
Jorge Soler smashed a line drive to center in the fourth inning that was badly misread by Jay, who came rushing in before sprinting back to pick up what turned out to be a triple. At the plate, he struck out looking for the second time this season as part of a 0-for-4 performance.
• Costly mistakes. Lynn refused to talk about the many positives of his 2015 debut after two bad throws led to a frustrating loss.
He also kept his answers brief regarding a disastrous seventh inning that began when he hit Anthony Rizzo with a fastball, then got worse when a poor pickoff throw to first allowed Rizzo to get to second. Starlin Castro followed with an RBI single and eventually came around to score the Cubs' final run.
"That's baseball," Lynn said. "You've got to make better pitches and do the things you need to do in that situation."
You can follow Luke Thompson on Twitter at @FS_LukeT or email him at lukegthompson87@gmail.com.
