CHICAGO — Before the Cardinals could capitalize on the generosity of the rulebook in extra innings and the rolling production of their rookies, they first had to get outs.
With at least two innings to cover after Adam Wainwright’s savvy seven innings, they turned to lefty Genesis Cabrera. The only one of their late-game trio available for Sunday’s game, Cabrera covered the eighth, the ninth and then just kept going for one of the most compelling — and telling — relief performances of the year.
Cabrera pitched four stout innings and doubled his season-high for pitches to carry the Cardinals to a 5-3 victory in 11 innings at Wrigley Field.
Rookie Juan Yepez connected for an RBI single in the top of the 11th to score the runner gifted teams at second base in extra innings. Rookie Brendan Donovan widened the lead with his two-out RBI double. That gave Cabrera added cushion to work with when he came out, somewhat surprisingly, for the bottom of the 11th inning. He finished with five strikeouts and one run allowed through the four innings. It took the reliever 58 pitches.
He earned the win.
The Cardinals claimed the series, winning in extra innings the final two games of the four-day, five-game visit to the North Side. For the first time since May 1986, the Cardinals split a game of at least 11 innings between two pitchers and won, according to Elias. Cabrera’s use was both a nod to his effectiveness and availability as it was revealing to what arms the Cardinals can count on in close quarters like a one-run game at Wrigley.
Unable to find seams in the Cardinals’ defense or sustain rallies against Wainwright, the Cubs waited until their first look at the Cardinals’ bullpen to retake their lead.
Back-to-back doubles in the eighth inning snapped a taut, tied ballgame and provided the Cubs a 3-2 lead going into the ninth inning. Patrick Wisdom landed a one-out double to left-center field, and pinch-hitter P.J. Higgins followed with an RBI double that broke the 2-2 tie. Both of the doubles came against Cabrera.
The Cardinals had wanted to avoid the lefty during Saturday’s doubleheader because of a split fingernail on his pitching hand. The idea was to steal him the day, so he’d be steeled for multiple innings Sunday.
In relief of Wainwright after the veteran’s crafty seven innings, the Cardinals only needed one, two if they somehow kept a tie game or got the lead. Maybe three with extra innings. Maybe more, as it turns out.
They got one out before the Cubs got a run.
The Cardinals answered quickly when Harrison Bader took flight swiftly. Bader drilled a liner off the center-field ivy that caromed enough for him to race for third. After Yadier Molina’s flyout to right — right to Gold Glove-winner Jason Heyward — that didn’t allow Bader to score, pinch-hitter Lars Nootbaar laced a single to center that did. A 3-3 game meant a second inning from Cabrera — and the top of the Cubs’ lineup looming.
Cabrera retired them in order, two with strikeouts.
The Cardinals came a hesitation away from filching a run in the top of the 10th inning. Rookie Nolan Gorman struck out on three pitches with Tommy Edman at third base. The pitch skittered away from the Cubs’ catcher, and Edman broke home, needing Gorman to do the same to first and reach on the wild pitch despite the strikeout. Gorman paused ever so slightly, and that was enough for a throw to beat him and end the inning. And call on Cabrera for a third inning.
He struck out pinch-hitter Clint Frazier with one out and the winning run at third to keep the game scoreless through 10 innings.
Twenty-two years to the day they were both drafted by a major-league club, Wainwright and Molina made their 315th start together as a battery.
They’re one start shy of tying Braves duo Warren Spahn and Del Crandall for the second-most in major-league history.
On June 5, 2000, Wainwright sat with friends on a pool table, his legs dangling just above the ground as he heard his name selected by the home-state Atlanta Braves at 29th overall. Three rounds later, at pick No. 113, the Cardinals selected a catcher from Puerto Rico with a familiar last name: Molina. They would share a field together as competitors in the minors before they would share careers together as Cardinals.
Four years ago, both of them acknowledged they might be making their last start together at Wrigley Field. They hugged as they walked from warming up in the bullpen — just in case.
What’s followed has been a career renaissance for Wainwright, who insists that he feels younger pitching at 40 than he did at 35 or 36, when his body was betraying him with injuries. Molina has said that this will be his final season, his final “run,” that last tour 22 years after his draft. Wainwright has only repeatedly said that he’ll say nothing about retirement. No wonder. He continues to find new ways to get the same old results.
Wainwright pitched seven innings, collected a quality start, and did so without pocketing a single strikeout. All 21 outs came from a ball in play. Two from outfield assists.
The Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the first by pairing a walk with a double, and they doubled that lead with a double and single in the fourth inning. In his 24th start at Wrigley, Wainwright allowed nine hits to explore the friendly confines but only two brought Cubs home.
The Cardinals knotted the game for their veteran ace with a two-run single in the fifth inning helped along by an error from the Cubs. Edman and Paul Goldschmidt singled with two outs, and both advanced 90 feet on a throwing error. When Nolan Arenado lined a single up the middle, that error put both Cardinals in position to score. Arenado’s 38th and 39th RBIs of the season evened the game, 2-2.
The Cubs had an avenue to a tie-breaking run in the sixth inning after Wisdom, the former Cardinals’ prospect, drilled a 3-0 pitch for a double. He was at second when Rafael Ortega lifted a curveball to right field for a single that could have scored Wisdom.
Maybe should have.
Definitely would have if not for Donovan, still relatively new to the outfield, pinpointing a throw home that met Molina’s mitt right at Wisdom’s leg for the out. The Cubs challenged the play, but the review confirmed that Molina did not block Wisdom’s access to home plate. The mitt just tagged him before he got close. Wainwright closed the inning with a fly ball to Donovan in right to keep the game level, 2-2.
The outfield assist was Donovan’s second of the game as the Cubs continued to test he and his fellow novice outfielder Yepez. In the first inning, Frank Schwindel lofted a fly ball to right that was enough to score Willson Contreras on the sacrifice fly.
Donovan threw home, but his throw was low enough for the cutoff to redirect — a throw Donovan has been working on with coach Willie McGee. Paul Goldschmidt caught Donovan’s throw on its way home and pivoted it to third base to get an advancing runner and end the inning.
The defense saved Wainwright another run in the third. Back-to-back singles from the top of the order sparked a rally. Edmundo Sosa extinguished it. The Cardinals’ shortstop dove to his left behind second base to snare a hard-hop grounder. He flipped to second to get an out and, by keeping the ball in the infield, kept the lead runner from scoring and the inning scoreless.
With defense like that, Wainwright kept it busy.
Through seven innings, Wainwright faced 30 Cubs and 28 of them put the ball in play. For the first time since facing the Royals in June 2007, Wainwright pitched at least six innings into a start and did not have a strikeout. He got to two strikes on Contreras in the seventh inning with a runner on base before missing on the full-count pitch for a walk.
No worries.
Three pitches later he had a groundout to end the inning.
