Palentine Pounder comes up clutch in walk-off of Cardinals |
CHICAGO - Regardless of where the Chicago Cubs (53-58) and St.Louis Cardinals (56-53) stand, one thing is certain: you can expect the unexpected when these teams meet. Coming off a 3-3 road trip, the Cubs returned home to Wrigley Field on Thursday as they kicked off a four-game set with their most hated rivals.
In what was a great pitching matchup between Sonny Gray and Shota Imanaga, it was the ninth inning when most of the fireworks came as the Cubs began the ninth down two. Faced with this situation plenty of times, the Cubs entered the ninth losing 53 straight games, including 40 games this season, trailing by multiple runs in the ninth. All bad things must come to an end, and the Cubs made sure to put an end to both of those streaks as they rallied for three runs off of Ryan Helsley, capped off by a walk-off Mike Tauchman double to lift the Cubs to a 5-4 win. Although Imanga's line doesn't look great, with four runs allowed on 10 hits, he was lights out through six innings as he kept the Cardinals' offense in check. In fact, the only run he gave up through six innings came in the first inning, when Paul Goldschmidt got a pitch to his liking and drove it over the fence for an early 1-0 lead. That was it for quite some time, as Imanaga was as good as we have seen at any point this season, picking up seven strikeouts along the way. The @Cubs love when Shota is on the bump🤝 pic.twitter.com/I2LfCyqqzv Like Imanaga, Gray was equally as good, and with nine strikeouts through seven solid innings, you can see why he was one of the more sought-after pitchers of the offseason. Gray got himself into a bit of trouble in the second, with Ian Happ leading things off with a double before advancing to third on the Nico Hoerner single. Then came a single from Dansby Swanson to drive home the Cubs' first run and tie things up 1-1. Apart from that, offense was tough to come by. Neither team managed to score for the next three innings, keeping things 1-1 entering the sixth. Then came the bottom half of the sixth, when Seiya Suzuki absolutely got every piece of a Gray offering and deposited it nearly 460 feet for the longest homer of his career, putting the Cubs back in front 2-1. Given how strong the Cubs pen has been for the better part of a month, you had to like their chances of picking up another win only to have Imanaga run out of gas in the seventh. That all started with a one-out single to Michael Siani before Masyn Winn got into an Imanaga offering and parked it for a two-run blast to put the Cardinals in front 3-2. The Cardinals were just getting started in that inning as a Goldschmidt double followed by a Nolan Arenado single stretched the Cardinals lead to 4-2 and had the back end of their bullpen set to go. After seeing Jo Jo Romero retire the side in the eighth, the Cubs were down to their final three outs and had a tall task in front of them. Standing between them and a possible late-game rally was the Cardinals all-star closer, Helsey. It's no secret that Helsely has been outstanding, but has been known to allow a few runs against the Cubs this season. That trend continued for him in the ninth, with Cody Bellinger cashing in for a one-out homer to pull the Cubs within 4-3. That was just the start of what was a massive ninth inning, as the two-out single from Nico Hoerner extended the game with Swanson coming to bat. Already with a massive hit under his belt, Swanson made it two big hits, as his RBI double brought home Hoerner and tied things back up 4-4. It was the kind of hit Swanson has been waiting for all season, and you could see it in his face that a massive lift was lifted from his shoulders. On the verge of rallying back for the win, Craig Counsell pulled back Pete Crow-Armstrong and elected to use Tauchman as a pinch hitter. Pinch-hitting is never an easy task, but if there were a few guys to give it a while, Tauchman would be one of those guys. Not only did he continue to display his disciplined zone to battle back in the count, but he then displayed his great bat-to-ball skills by going the other way on a 99 MPH fastball and delivering a walk-off RBI double to give the Cubs a 5-4 win. Call it a Cub-back! There's something about Mike Tauchman against the Cardinals... pic.twitter.com/anASysSP9p That makes two great games for the Cubs offense, as they picked up 8 hits in the win. Suzuki, Bellinger, Hoener, and Swanson all had multi-hit efforts for the Cubs, who will look to deliver again on Friday. "LET ME HEAR YOU SING IT, CHICAGO" pic.twitter.com/ngLtivPGuT @Cubs @cachorros win! Walk-off 5-4! How sweet! #Youhavetoseeit pic.twitter.com/zsvfwArDGS Honestly same, @LieutenantDans7. pic.twitter.com/tFPpXRN9DJ “You need everybody on the same page every single night.” “Shoutout women’s health care.” “It completely changes the dynamic of the game.” “That was fun.” Mike Tauchman’s walk-off from the drone is cinema 😍 pic.twitter.com/d9tn0DJ2E9
Mike Tauchman delivers a #walkoff double. pic.twitter.com/3QLZJQtLkq
Cliff Floyd on the Cubs building momentum after tonight's win. pic.twitter.com/NQClI40san
Mike Tauchman has hit a walk-off both times his wife has had an OBGYN appointment. pic.twitter.com/lmxnMeGmfS
Dansby Swanson on the importance of Nico Hoerner’s stolen base in the 9th. pic.twitter.com/zXjvDv84jo
Craig Counsell after the @Cubs walk-off win against the Cardinals. pic.twitter.com/TtenG7gyxK
