With Buccos nipping at their heels, Cards let one slip away in Chicago
John Lackey did not dodge the question. Asked about his reputation as a big-game starter after he beat the Brewers last week, Lackey replied matter-of-factly, "That's why I'm here."
Well, we're about to find out if he can live up to that rep wearing the Birds on the Bat.
Lackey will put his standing on the line Wednesday night when he starts at Wrigley Field in a game the Cardinals hardly can afford to lose after they fell to the Cubs, 4-3 in 10 innings Tuesday night.
Coupled with yet another victory by the Pirates, the Cardinals' lead in the NL Central has been reduced to 1 1/2 games, the smallest it's been since they moved into first place Sept. 1.
Lose to the Cubs on Wednesday and, as hot as are the Pirates, the Cardinals easily could go into the weekend with the Central in a dead heat. Pittsburgh still has two more games at Atlanta while the Cardinals will be off Thursday before opening a three-game series at Arizona on Friday.
Pittsburgh clinched a place in the postseason with Tuesday's 3-2 victory over the Braves and, unlike the Cardinals after they secured a wild-card spot Sunday, the Pirates popped some champagne in the clubhouse. According to reports out of Atlanta, though, the Pirates did not celebrate for long as they also have their sights still set on winning the division.
The loss to the Cubs just about ended the Cardinals' already-long chances of earning the NL's top seed. To beat out the Nationals in the race for home-field advantage, the Cardinals would have to finish 4-0 and the Nationals would have to lose their six remaining games.
But after Tuesday night, the Cardinals are more concerned about winning the division than gaining home-field advantage.
3 UP
-- Matt Holliday. First he was buzzed by a fastball inches from his nose. Then he was fooled by a changeup. And then, when Kyle Hendricks left a fastball over the plate, Holliday smashed one of his patented line-drive home runs into the left-field bleachers to tie the game at three and give him his ninth consecutive season with at least 20 homers. Two innings later, Holliday led off the eighth by taking a pitch well outside and doubling into the right-field corner to give the Cardinals a chance to move into the lead.
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-- Seth Maness. With two more scoreless innings, he extended a scoreless streak to 12 1/3 innings over 11 outings. Maness might not be the Cardinals' closer in October, as Tim McCarver suggested on the FOX Sports Midwest telecast, but he figures to see plenty of high-leverage situations as long as the Cardinals are playing. Against the Cubs, Maness entered in the sixth with the score 3-3 and retired six of the seven batters he faced, allowing only an infield single to Ryan Kalish.
-- Randal Grichuk. He went into spring training no better than eighth on the outfield depth chart. But a week before the playoffs, he has all but secured a spot on the postseason roster and likely will see his name in the lineup at some point. Grichuk got another start -- against a right-hander -- and doubled off the left-field wall for his seventh hit in his past 16 at-bats. Grichuk leads the Cardinals with a .389 batting average in September.
3 DOWN
-- Pat Neshek. Called on to work more than one inning for the first time since Aug. 10, Neshek ended up the loser when he gave up two hits in the 10th, a one-out double to Anthony Rizzo and a two-out, walk-off single to Wellington Castillo. Fatigue should not have been an issue for Neshek, who threw a season-high 32 pitches but was working for the first time in five days. Maybe it's a Cubs thing. His ERA against the Cubs is 5.40. Against the rest of the majors, it's 0.79.
-- Shelby Miller. He started strong with three strikeouts in the first inning, but the right-hander then ran into his first real trouble in quite a while in the second. Miller began by walking his first batter since Sept. 3 and followed that by serving up his first home run since Aug. 29. The walk, to Luis Valbuena, came after Miller was ahead 1-2 in the count. The homer, by Castillo, came on a 2-2 fastball that was left up and deposited into the left-field bleachers to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead. Miller allowed a leadoff homer in the fifth to Matt Szczur and his night soon was over. He lasted 4 1/3 innings and though he struck out eight, his streak of quality starts was snapped at six. Matheny said Miller relied more on his four-seam fastball than the sinker that he has been successfully using in his hot streak.
-- Missed opportunity. Holliday's double to lead off the eighth gave the Cardinals a prime chance to take their first lead. But cleanup hitter Matt Adams was unable to advance him to third when he grounded out. Holliday then made it to third anyway on a wild pitch but was left there when Jhonny Peralta struck out and Yadier Molina grounded out to third. It was as close to taking the lead as the Cardinals would get because they did not put a runner on base in the ninth or 10th.
You can follow Stan McNeal on Twitter at @StanMcNeal or email him at stanmcneal@gmail.com.
