|
 Lackey issued his rebuttal in front of a bi-partisan sellout crowd
Monday night.
Firing a four-hit shutout in seven innings and becoming the only
active pitcher to beat all 30 MLB teams, Lackey led Chicago to a 5-0
decision at Busch Stadium.
In upping his record to 3-0, Lackey fanned 11, his most strikeouts
in a game since he punched out 11 Baltimore hitters on July 5, 2014
while working for Boston. It was an outing that came as absolutely
no surprise to him or manager Joe Maddon.
"We talked about it before the game, about the kind of focus that he
was going to have, and you saw it right there," Maddon said. "All
his pitches were crisp. That's what I've seen the last couple of
years out of him. He had his sharpness tonight."
Most of the St. Louis fans in attendance lustily booed Cubs right
fielder Jason Heyward, who left the Cardinals in free agency and
ruffled feathers on his way out when he made remarks about their
aging core players.
 Lackey's departure actually preceded Heyward by a week, the 37-year
old getting a two-year contract. He wasn't received any more warmly
than Heyward, although the boos weren't quite as loud.
But Lackey pitched to library silence after escaping a major jam in
the fifth when the game was scoreless. A one-out single by Kolten
Wong was followed by Aledmys Diaz's chopped double down the left
field line, the first and only time St. Louis got a runner to third.
When the Cubs botched a rundown after a failed squeeze play with
pitcher Mike Leake hitting and enabled Wong to return safely to
third, it seemed like a setup for a Cardinals' uprising. On the next
pitch, Leake barely missed a three-run homer to left, the ball
hooking foul.
Given that reprieve, Lackey fanned Leake on a pitch in the dirt,
then whiffed Matt Carpenter on a tailing 2-2 changeup.
"He's a great hitter," Lackey said of Carpenter. "It was a great
challenge to have him up there with a couple of runners in scoring
position. I had to make a couple of good pitches."
Leake, who St. Louis gave $80 million for a five-year deal to
replace Lackey, matched him pitch-for-pitch until Dexter Fowler
ripped a leadoff homer to right-center in the sixth. But Leake
appeared in position to get through seven innings with just one run
until the game's only error.
[to top of second column] |
With Kris Bryant at second and Miguel Montero at first after
singles, Jorge Soler rapped a tailor-made double-play ball to Diaz
at short. But he couldn't handle it cleanly, then rushed a throw to
first that sailed over Brandon Moss for a two-base error that scored
Montero.
It was the fourth error for Diaz and the Cardinals' 15th in 13
games, 14 from infielders or pitchers.
"It was disappointing," Diaz said of the miscue. "It was a hard ball
and then I hurried the throw. Errors are part of the game, but I
have to keep working at it. Every game is a new opportunity to play
for the team."
Following the error, Addison Russell's sacrifice fly plated Montero
and Lackey aided his cause with an RBI single that scored
pinch-runner Matt Szczur.
Kris Bryant capped the scoring with a run-producing single in the
eighth off reliever Tyler Lyons as the Cubs improved to 10-3 in the
teams' first meeting since Chicago bumped off St. Louis in the
National League Division Series.
Leake (0-2) pitched his best game with the Cardinals (7-6),
permitting six hits and four runs, three earned, in seven innings.
He walked one and fanned six.
But it wasn't nearly enough to outduel the "old man" who still has
bullets left in his right arm.
"I've been known to like this kind of situation," Lackey said with a
wry smile.
NOTES: St. Louis activated SS Ruben Tejada (left quad strain) from
the 15-day DL Monday and optioned INF Greg Garcia to Triple-A
Memphis. ... Chicago starting pitchers have lasted at least six
innings in each of the first 12 games, the longest streak of that
kind for the team since 1910. ... This series matches the teams with
the best run differential in the majors through 12 games. The Cubs
entered Monday night at plus 40 and the Cardinals were plus 35.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
