In Game 1 of the doubleheader between the Chicago Cubs and MLB-best St. Louis Cardinals, the Cubs did something not a lot of teams do. This was a close game until the Cubs jumped on the Cardinals bullpen to open the game up, winning 7-4.
The Cubs got the scoring started off in the bottom of the third when Chris Denorfia singled in Jorge Soler and Anthony Rizzo to put the Cubbies up 2-0. The Cubs went up 3-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning after Jorge Soler walked with the bases loaded, bringing home the pitcher Jake Arrieta.
The Red Birds did not go down without a fight as they put up two runs in the top of the seventh inning to cut the lead to 3-2.
However, the Cubs put the Cardinals out of their misery in the bottom of the eighth inning. Dexter Fowler doubled to score Jonathan Herrera from first to make it 4-2 Cubs. Anthony Rizzo put the final nail in the coffin on Randy Choate's outing as he blasted a 375-foot homer to put the Cubs up 6-2. Chris Denorfia later collected his second RBI of the game by singling in Kris Bryant to make it 7-2 Cubs.
The Cardinals have arguably the best bullpen in all of baseball but they didn't show it in the first game of a double-header. The Cubs, on the other hand, saw some great pitching all the way around.
Jake Arrieta (9-5, 2.80 ERA) pitched 6.2 innings giving up just two earned runs on seven hits. James Russell came on in relief and struck out Matt Carpenter to end the top of the seventh for the Cardinals. Pedro Strop pitched a perfect eighth inning for the Cubs while striking out a batter as well.
However, these Cardinals would not go without a fight. In the top of the ninth, Mark Reynolds hit a two-run homer off of Neil Ramirez to cut the Cubs lead to 7-4. Jason Motte came in to get the final two outs and give the Cubs the 7-4 win.
The Cubs win moves them to 8.5 games behind the Cardinals in the National League Central. It also helps the second-place Pittsburgh Pirates by cutting their deficit to 5.5 games on St. Louis. This race is going to be fun until the very end of the season. The Cubs send Dallas Beeler to the mound to make his season debut. Beeler was 0-2 with a 3.27 ERA in 11 innings pitched last year for the Cubs. The Cardinals will oppose Beeler with Tim Cooney who is 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA this year in 8.1 innings pitched. Game 2 may turn into a slugfest with two starters that don't have much MLB service time.