Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals: April 24 Recap

Last time the Cubs faced Cards right hander Adam Wainwright 11 days ago the Cubs lit him up like a pinball machine to the tune of eight runs in three innings of work dampening the mood of the Cardinals home opener as Jeff Samardzija grinded through five innings of work to notch his second win of the young campaign.

In a matchup of the two tall right-handers on a brisk April night, runs were at a premium as both starters sawed off bats much of the night. Wainwright gave up one earned run on a Castro sac fly in the first over six innings of work. Meanwhile his counterpart on the other side was one out removed from seven innings of shutout ball.

With the Cubs up on the Cardinals 1-0 with two outs in the top half of the eighth inning in front of the Wrigley Field faithful first year manager Dale Sveum called upon struggling Cubs closer Carlos Marmol for the four out save. Marmol quickly got ahead of Cardinals slugger Matt Holliday 1-2 as the Wrigley crowd rose to their feet in anticipation of the third out Matt Holliday got just enough of a Carlos Marmol. A high slider later evened the count before Holliday took advantage of a hanging slider and deposited it into the first row of the centerfield bleachers as Cubs centerfielder Tony Campana could only leap so high before watching the ball turn into a souvenir.

Marmol walked off the field to end the top portion of the eighth to a healthy smattering of boos from the restless natives.

When it appeared the Cardinals had the game in the palm of their hands, Cubs first baseman Bryan LaHair took the first pitch he saw from Jason Motte into the open arms of the fans in blue in the left center field bleachers, tying up the game.

LaHair rounded the bases with his right forearm in the air reminiscent of Padres first baseman, Steve Garvey whose homer beat the Cubs in the 1984 playoffs.

LaHair’s homerun was the first by a Cub in nine games since he hit a grand slam off Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright.

With the game now in extra innings, Cubs bat boy, I mean centerfielder, Tony Campana singling up the middle and stealing second with one out, the Cubs were in position to send the Wrigley Field faithful, which included Michael Jordan on this night home happy.

With the much maligned Alfonso Soriano up with two outs and down to his last strike he hit a bullet to second base that ate up cards second sacker alive. Tony Campana raced around third and scored the winning run in the tenth giving the Cubs their second walk off win in as many nights vs. the Cardinals.

The 3-2 win brought the Cubs record to 6-12 as the Cardinals fall to 11-7.

The Cubs look for the sweep Wednesday afternoon with the first pitch at 1:20.