LDN - Sports

Schwarber's home run carries Cubs to win over Cardinals

[April 07, 2017] ST. LOUIS -- A play no one could ever remembering seeing before Thursday was the catalyst for the Chicago Cubs' winning rally.

Matt Szczur's strikeout somehow got him to first base when the ball got stuck on the outside of catcher Yadier Molina's chest protector, and the Cubs walked right through the open door for a four-run seventh that led to a 6-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in Busch Stadium.

Kyle Schwarber's three-run homer off Brett Cecil (0-1) gave Chicago a 5-4 lead that it would hold. John Lackey (1-0) got the win, fanning seven and walking two over six innings while allowing six hits and four runs, three earned.

But Szczur's rally-starting strikeout was the play everyone wanted to talk about afterwards.

"That's new," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said with a grin. "I don't know if it was stuck to Velcro on the chest protector or if it was a fuzzy baseball, but it certainly helped us."

"You'd have to ask somebody else," Lackey said when asked what made a ball adhere to the chest protector. "I don't know anything about sticky stuff. That was certainly crazy. I'd never seen that before."

Cecil got Szczur to swing at a 0-2 breaking ball in the dirt, and the pinch-hitter waved at it for what appeared to be the first out. But Molina danced around in vain as he tried to locate the ball, enabling Szczur to reach safely.

Only after Szczur made it to first did Molina realize the ball was lodged in the chest protector. Afterwards, Molina said he didn't know how the ball stuck.

Regardless of how it happened, the inning quickly unraveled for Cecil. He walked Jon Jay on a 3-2 pitch and then Schwarber destroyed the next pitch, rifling it 404 feet into the right field seats for his first homer.

"I haven't seen that before, never," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. "I have no idea how it happened. But you can't take away the home run."

It was a 180-degree turn for Schwarber, who at this time last year saw his season end with ligament tears in his knee while chasing a fly ball in Arizona. Although he returned for the World Series and started four games in Cleveland as the designated hitter, this represents his first week as an everyday player since the 2015 season ended.

Ironically, Schwarber's blast denied a win to an opponent also coming off an injury which cost him 2016. St. Louis starter Lance Lynn, who missed all of last year after undergoing Tommy John surgery in Nov. 2015, left with the lead after 5 1/3 solid innings.

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Cubs starting pitcher John Lackey (41) pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals during the third inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Kane-USA TODAY Sports

Leaning on his fastball in a typical Lynn performance, the big righthander allowed five hits and two runs over 5 1/3 innings, walking one and fanning four.

"I've been through it; he looked great," said Lackey of Lynn, his former teammate with the Cardinals. "I'm proud of him. I hope he has a good year."

For most of the day, it appeared that a long first inning would cost Lackey. Ben Zobrist's error on a potential inning-ending double-play ball off Molina's bat gifted St. Louis the first of three runs. Matt Adams and Randal Grichuk contributed RBI singles.

Jay put the Cubs on the board with a two-out run-scoring single in the fifth, a batter after Lackey extended the inning with his second single of the day. But Molina restored a three-run lead in the Cardinals' half of the fifth on a sacrifice fly.

Addison Russell's infield out in the sixth made it 4-2 St. Louis, and he added a second RBI grounder an inning later to cap the scoring.

Four Chicago relievers protected the lead over the last three innings, with Wade Davis shrugging off Kolten Wong's leadoff double in the ninth for his second save.

NOTES: St. Louis LHP Tyler Lyons (right knee) will start a rehab assignment Friday night for Triple-A Memphis at New Orleans. ... Chicago finally got to leave St. Louis after Thursday's game to start a weekend series in Milwaukee. Thanks to Wednesday's rainout, the Cubs ended up spending six nights in town to play three games. ... Cardinals RF Stephen Piscotty (head contusion) appeared Thursday as part of a double-switch in the sixth inning and went 0-for-2. Piscotty was hit in the left ear with a throw at the plate while scoring a run Tuesday night and left the game before the top of the sixth inning.

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