Cubs Slam Cardinals

A Kyle Schwarber grand slam and a Jon Lester pickoff to first treat the Wrigley faithful to a 5–3 Cubs win

Lester pickoff sparks Cubs(Wll Perez Jr via Flickr)

If you were asked which was more likely to happen Saturday, a successful Jon Lester pickoff throw or a Kyle Schwarber grand slam, which would you place a bet on? It would be safe to say the entire baseball universe would choose the Schwarber grand salami. How about the odds for both to occur? I can’t even wrap my brain around what the betting odds would have been in Vegas for that to happen.

Suffice it to say that if you did bet on both, your payoff was crazy money. What makes it even better is that it happened against the Cardinals. Everything is always much better when it happens against the Cards!

Jon Lester got the Cubs in a hole early by walking Dexter Fowler, allowing an infield single to Tommy Pham, and walking Stephen Piscotty on four pitches. Jose Martinez then singled to right, scoring Dex and Pham before anybody was out. But he induced a Yadier Molina double-play ground ball and a Jhonny Peralta pop up to get out of the jam. Once again the Cubs would be playing from behind.

Lester settled down after he allowed two singles to open the second and retired ten of the next eleven Redbirds hitters.

St. Louis righty Mike Leake set the first six Cubs down in order.

Javier Baez finally got to Leake in the third, driving a 1–1 pitch to center for a solo shot, his ninth on the year, cutting the Cardinal lead to 2–1.

In the top of the fifth, with the Cubs still trailing 2–1, Tommy Pham coaxed a two out walk. And as has been the norm his leads once aboard were enormous, even more than usual, as he stretched it all the way out to twenty feet off of first. Anthony Rizzo begged Lester to throw the ball to first. Complete with hand gestures. And out of nowhere, and to the glee of the packed Wrigley house and Rizz he did. Pham didn’t have a chance. For the first time since 2015 Lester threw to first, picked Pham off, and stared down the Cards dugout as he walked off of the diamond to a standing ovation. Statement made.

The score stayed 2–1 to the bottom of seventh. With one out, Jason Heyward and Wilson Contreras connected for back to back singles. Leake then grazed Jon Jay, pinch hitting for Hector Rondon, with a pitch and the bags were juiced for Kyle Schwarber. On the first pitch he saw he unleashed two months of frustration on a Leake offering and crushed a 403 foot Schwarb-bomb to center. I’m not sure his cleats were even touched the dirt as he rounded the bags and again Cubs Nation stood in ovation. It was the first go-ahead slam in the seventh or later for the Cubs since 2012. And when Kyle got to the dugout his high-fives were just a bit adrenaline enhanced. Joe Maddon said his hand hurt afterwards.

”Yeah, I gave him a little extra,” Schwarber said. ”It was an exciting moment, it was a big moment. To put us ahead in that spot and hold those guys off for the win was big.”

The Cubs led 5–3.

Koji Uehara set the Cards down in order in the eighth and Wade Davis pitched around a Molina walk in the ninth to record his twelfth save of the year.

The second straight win moved the Cubs to 27–27 on the season and one game behind the division leading Brewers.

UP NEXT

Cubs RHP Kyle Hendricks (4–3, 3.75 ERA) and Cardinals RHP Michael Wacha (2–3, 3.99) will face off in the series finale on Sunday night. Both are looking to bounce back from rough starts. Hendricks gave up five runs in five innings against the Padres on May 29, snapping a streak of 48 starts giving up four runs or less. Wacha lasted just three innings against the Dodgers on May 30, allowing four runs (three earned). Oh, and David Ross is in the booth for the ESPN Sunday night baseball broadcast. Don’t miss it!

Doug Preszler is the type of person who can be a Cubs fan and an Iowa fan while living in South Dakota. He is a man who cares not for regional loyalty. He can be found on Twitter @PreszlerDoug, telling tales of the Dakotan Cubs fan’s existence.