CUBS TURN TRIPLE PLAY, STILL FALL TO CARDS
Rosenthal Escapes 9th Inning Jam
ST. LOUIS, Apr. 13 (AP) - The Chicago Cubs turned the first triple play of the
2014 major league season but fell to the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-2, at Busch
Stadium. Michael Wacha got the win for the Cardinals and Trevor Rosenthal
earned his second save of the year after wriggling out of a bases loaded-no outs
jam in the ninth inning.
The Cubs drew first blood. Wellington Castillo led off the top of the
third with a double and was sacrificed to third by pitcher Edwin Jackson.
Emilio Bonifacio then lifted a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Castillo with the
game's first run.
The Cardinals responded with a crooked number in the bottom half of the
inning. Peter Bourjos led off with a base hit, but Wacha's sacrifice
attempt failed, as Bourjos was forced at second. Matt Carpenter's single
put runners on first and second. Kolten Wong fanned for the second out but
Matt Holliday doubled into the left field corner, scoring Wacha and chasing
Carpenter to third. Mark Adams then rolled a base hit through the middle,
scoring both runners to give St. Louis a 3-1 lead.
The Cubs got one of the runs back in the fourth when Junior Lake tripled with
one out and scored on Mike Olt's sacrifice fly.
The score was still 3-2 when the Cardinals came to bat in the bottom of the
fifth. Wong led off with a base hit and stole second before Holliday drew
a walk from Jackson, putting runners on first and second with no outs.
That brought Adams to the plate. Having already banged out a pair of hits,
the St. Louis first baseman drew a ball from Jackson and then hit a blistering
line drive toward the middle. Chicago second baseman Bonifacio had broken
toward the bag for a possible pickoff and snared the drive with his momentum
taking him towards second base. He stepped on the bag and fired to Anthony
Rizzo, who had cut behind the flatfooted Holliday, completing the triple play so
quickly that much of the sellout crowd wasn't sure what had happened.
It was to be the highlight of the game for the Cubs. Adams got some
redemption with a run-scoring double in the seventh, his third RBI of the
contest. Jhonny Peralta's solo home run in the eighth put the Cardinals on
top 5-2.
Rosenthal came on for the platter save effort in the ninth, but things almost
spiraled out of control. Starlin Castro led off with line drive single to
left and pinch hitter Luis Valbuena followed with a base hit to right, bringing
the tying run to the plate. Rosenthal appeared to come unglued. He
uncorked a wild pitch, moving the runners to second and third, then proceeded to
walk Olt on four pitches, filling the bases. A meeting at the mound
ensued, which appeared to be the needed tonic. Castillo fanned for the
first out and Rosenthal fired a 1-2 fastball past pinch hitter Ryan Kalish for
the second out. That brought Bonifacio to the plate as the last hope for
the Cubs. Rosenthal, confident now, quickly worked ahead in the count 0-2
and then induced Bonifacio to lift a weak fly ball to shallow right that Jon
Jay handled with ease to end the game.
4/13/2014, ChN14-StL14, Busch Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2014 Cubs 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 8 1 8 0 2014 Cardinals 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 1 x 5 11 0 7 0 Cubs AB R H BI AVG Cardinals AB R H BI AVG Bonifacio 2b 3 0 0 1 .286 Carpenter,M 3b 4 1 1 0 .174 Ruggiano cf 3 0 1 0 .276 Wong 2b 4 0 2 0 .233 Sweeney ph 1 0 0 0 .333 Holliday lf 3 2 1 1 .213 Rizzo 1b 3 0 0 0 .289 Adams,Ma 1b 4 0 3 3 .318 Schierholtz rf 4 0 0 0 .152 Molina,Y c 4 0 0 0 .277 Castro,S ss 4 0 2 0 .346 Craig rf 2 0 1 0 .167 Lake lf 3 1 1 0 .188 Jay ph 1 0 0 0 .421 Russell p 0 0 0 0 .000 Peralta,Jh ss 3 1 2 1 .419 Strop p 0 0 0 0 .000 Bourjos cf 4 0 1 0 .313 Parker,B p 0 0 0 0 .000 Wacha p 2 1 0 0 .000 Valbuena ph 1 0 1 0 .267 Descalso ph 1 0 0 0 .222 Olt 3b 2 0 0 1 .154 Maness p 0 0 0 0 .000 Castillo,W c 4 1 1 0 .222 Neshek p 0 0 0 0 .000 Jackson,E p 2 0 2 0 .750 Robinson,S ph 1 0 0 0 .444 Kalish lf 2 0 0 0 .200 Rosenthal p 0 0 0 0 .000 32 2 8 2 33 5 11 5 Cubs INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Jackson,E L 0-3 5.2 8 3 3 3 5 100 56 9.22 Russell 0.2 1 1 1 0 0 10 8 4.15 Strop 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 10 7 0.00 Parker,B 0.2 1 1 1 0 1 13 8 13.50 8.0 11 5 5 3 6 133 79 Cardinals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Wacha W 2-1 6.0 6 2 2 2 6 96 66 2.89 Maness H 1 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 7 7 2.35 Neshek H 1 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 8 8 4.50 Rosenthal S 2 1.0 2 0 0 1 2 24 14 0.00 9.0 8 2 2 3 9 135 95 ChN: Kalish inserted at lf in the 6th Sweeney batted for Ruggiano in the 8th Sweeney moved to cf in the 8th Valbuena batted for Parker,B in the 9th StL: Descalso batted for Wacha in the 6th Jay batted for Craig in the 8th Robinson,S batted for Neshek in the 8th Jay moved to rf in the 9th E-Castro,S. 2B-Castro,S(5), Castillo,W(2), Jackson,E(1), Holliday(2), Adams,Ma(4). 3B-Lake(1). HR-Peralta,Jh(4). RBI-Bonifacio(6), Olt(2), Holliday(8), Adams,Ma 3(8), Peralta,Jh(7). SB-Wong(2). K-Ruggiano, Rizzo, Schierholtz 2, Lake, Olt, Castillo,W 2, Kalish, Carpenter,M, Wong 2, Bourjos 2, Wacha. BB-Bonifacio, Rizzo, Olt, Holliday, Craig, Peralta,Jh. SF-Bonifacio, Olt. WP-Jackson,E, Rosenthal. GWRBI: Adams,Ma Temperature: 70, Sky: clear, Wind: in from right at 4 MPH. Attendance: 44,038 Game Time: 2:59