St. Louis Cardinals record easy 5-1 win against Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field - MLB Update
Starter Lance Lynn had the Chicago Cubs struggling on the plate as he takes the St. Louis Cardinals to an easy 5-1 win at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois on April, 25.
Following two scoreless innings, Cardinals went to a lead in third as Daniel Descalso reached home plate at the back of single by Matt Carpenter to right.
From there on, Cardinals just piled on the lead without any fear of any substantial resistance forthcoming from the opposition.
Sole run by the Cubs added to their account was a homer off to Lynn, the starter by first baseman Bryan LaHair. This also speaks of an inability of the Cubs to bring runs using classic run-manufacturing techniques.
Cardinals’ manager Mike Matheny praised Lance, terming his ability to pull out of vulnerable situations analogous to that of Adam Wainwright.
"What Lance was able to do set the tone for everything," said Mike Matheny. "Whenever he did get into a little trouble, it was a lot like what we saw with (Adam Wainwright on Tuesday) -- just made better pitches."
Third baseman David Freese did bulk of the damage to the Cubs, going 2-for-4. Three RBIs he contributed took his on-base percentage to .388.
"We put up enough runs -- we'd still like to put it on the opponent a little harder, a little more, but we'll take this one," Freese said. "Our pitchers are doing a phenomenal job, we just have to keep scrapping."
Even better was a centre-fielder Shane Robinson who currently maintains an incredible slugging percentage of .600. In terms of triggering activity on bases, he did not have much of the contribution. He added three hits in four at-bats in the game.
Starter Chris Volstad let the Cubs down big time on the mound. In six innings, he gave up four earned runs, six hits and managed just two strike-outs. He was rightly accorded the loss in the end.
The ease with which the Cardinals recorded victory purely justifies their current standing in the National League Central Division.
They look all set to pencil in a spot in the postseason and thus a threat for the opponents that they will replicate their terrific performance from last year is very much a possibility.
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