Cardinals rally to beat Cubs on Jhonny Peralta’s ninth-inning homer
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Just when it looked like the Chicago Cubs had turned the corner against the St. Louis Cardinals, Jhonny Peralta strikes and the Redbirds leave town with a 6-5 victory and four-game series split.
The Cubs were coming off a doubleheader sweep on Tuesday, which was their first against St. Louis since 1992. It didn’t look like they would be able to build off that success early, especially when starting pitcher Jason Hammel was forced from the game with a left hamstring injury. Reliever Clayton Richard took over in the second inning and struggled, allowing four runs in three innings.
However, the Cubs bounced back impressively, striking for two in the fourth and a three-spot in the sixth on Miguel Montero’s bases-clearing double. Montero’s hit followed a borderline ball three called by home-plate umpire Pat Hoberg that easily could have been strike three and would have ended the inning. After Montero made contact, Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina immediately turned to argue with Hoberg, leading to his ejection. Manager Mike Matheny was also tossed.
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Despite all of that, the Cardinals proved most resilient again. In the ninth inning, Matt Carpenter drew a two-out walk against Pedro Strop and then Peralta launched the two-strike homer to turn the game again. Only this time Chicago couldn’t recover against All-Star closer Trevor Rosenthal.
Rather than gain three games on St. Louis in roughly 40 hours, which could have been momentus, Chicago ended back where they started the series Monday night. On the plus side, they’re still three games ahead of New York in the wild-card race.
CLAYTON KERSHAW TOSSES COMPLETE SHUTOUT AGAINST PHILLIES
Reminder: Clayton Kershaw was not selected to the National League All-Star team. Instead, he was placed in the NL Final Vote along with Carlos Martinez, Johnny Cueto, Troy Tulowitzki and Jeurys Familia, of which he ranked fourth following Wednesday’s voting update.
One person very much aware of this snub and these undesirable circumstances is Kershaw himself. In Wednesday’s 5-0 win against the Philadelphia Phillies, he further proved that he belongs in Cincinnati, tossing his 10th career shutout in the Dodgers 5-0 win.
It was an interesting outing in that Kershaw wasn’t completely unhittable. He allowed eight Phillies hits, which is about seven or eight more than most were anticipating. Yet he still flashed dominance, racking up 13 strikeouts, and was certainly untouchable when needed.
Kershaw improved to 6-6 with the win while lowering his season ERA to 2.85. He’s still pretty good, folks.
Offensively, Los Angeles did all of its damage early, and on just two swings. Kershaw’s personal catcher A.J. Ellis muscled up for his first home run this season, a two-run shot in the second. Jimmy Rollins added a three-run shot in the third. He has eight.
RED SOX CONTINUE GAINING STEAM
There’s no denying the Boston Red Sox have been a disappointment this season. However, there’s still plenty of time to turn that disappointment around, and based on their play of late it may already be turning.
With a 6-3 win against the Miami Marlins on Wednesday, the Red Sox completed a quick two-game sweep while extending their overall winning streak to four. Amazingly, they’re now just four games under .500 at 41-45, and despite being in last place in the AL East, are just five games behind the division leading New York Yankees.
Even with four teams to jump, five games isn’t much separation over the final three months. Especially when they’ll see those four teams several times over the final three months.
Improved starting pitching will be the key for Boston to sustain such success. They’ve received a string of good outings over the past few days, including six innings of two-run ball from Rick Porcello on Wednesday. After a day off on Thursday, Justin Masterson will look to keep the string going in a matchup against Michael Pineda and the Yankees.
CARLOS GOMEZ MASHES TWO TATERS IN BREWERS COMEBACK WIN
Coming off an undefeated road trip through Philadelphia and Cincinnati, the Milwaukee Brewers entered Wednesday’s series finale against the Atlanta Braves on the verge of being swept.
Their prospects did not look all that encouraging early in the game, as Atlanta jumped out to a quick four-run lead on home runs from Cameron Maybin and Kelly Johnson. However, thanks to a monster afternoon from Carlos Gomez, they were able to rally late and secure a 6-5 victory.
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Fresh off the disabled list, left fielder Khris Davis got Milwaukee’s comeback started with a two-run homer off Atlanta’s Julio Teheran in the fourth. Two innings later, Gomez launched his seventh home run of the season, a solo shot also off Teheran. Then in the eighth, Gomez stepped up representing the go-ahead run and went yard again, this time off Luis Avilan.
Finally with a lead, All-Star closer Francisco Rodriguez handled ninth-inning duties and pitched a scoreless inning to notch his 19th save. The win was Milwaukee’s ninth in 11 games overall.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
