It’s the final game of a five game series against the North Siders from Chicago. The Cardinals won games two and four, the Cubs won game one and three. Miles Mikolas takes the mound for the Redbirds with Jose Quintana starting for the Cubbies. Should be a fun one from Wrigley! Let’s play ball!

Lineups

Game Notes

• The Cubs come out with a four-man outfield to try and stop Matt Carpenter. Resident old-baseball man Tim McCarver says he has never seen the before. Carpenter bunts down the third base line for a single. Yadi hits a ground rule double to move Carp to third and DeJong drives him in with a sac fly. Cards up 1-0 after one inning.
• The Cardinals load the bases for Yadi in the second but Molina strikes out looking on a fastball low and away.
• Molina throws out Baez stealing.
• In the third inning, Tim McCarver and Danny Mac argue if birds are athletes. It’s great television.
• With Fowler at first and 3-2 count on Munoz, Schildt call for the hit and run and it pays off. Munoz cranks a double down the line and Fowler scores from first with ease. 2-0 Cardinals.
• Ian Happ doubles down the first baseline to score Jason Heyward and the Cubs are on the board. Contreras hits one down the third baseline and the Cubs tie it up in the fourth. 2-2.
• Rizzo and Bryant get back to back singles in the fifth but Heyward grounds into an inning ending double play. No image done.
• Miles Mikolas exits the game after five innings. He gives up two runs on six hits, strikes out six and walks two after only throwing 74 pitches.
• Mike Mayers retires the first two he faces in the sixth but with two outs Kyle Schwarber takes Mayers deep. Cubs take the lead 3-2.
• Mayers stays in the game in the seventh. The Cubs string some hits together to extend their lead. 4-2 Cubs.
• Yairo Munoz makes a web gem in the seventh. Spectacular play. You’ll see that one on SportsCenter, kids.
• Brett Cecil enter the game in the eighth. This is how it went. Happ- leadoff walk, wild pitch- Happ to second, Schwarber- strike out, Happ steals third, Contreras- RBI single to score Happ, Russell- ground out but Gyroko throws it into the stands, Almora- RBI single, Rizzo- RBI single and that’s the outing for Cecil. He records one out, gives up three runs on four hits, walks one and strikes out one.
• Randy Rosario closes the door on this game.
• Dexter Fowler did eat Carpenter’s salsa and it worked. Fowler goes 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.

Cardinals head to Cincinnati for a three game set with the Reds. The Cardinals are now 50-49 on the season and sit in fourth place in the NL Central behind the Cubs, Brewers and after today, the Pirates.

Rookie Daniel Poncedeleon makes his MLB debut tomorrow in Cincy and I guess that will be fun?