Carpenter's 10th-inning hit lifts Cards over Cubs
Matt Carpenter hit a game-ending, bases-loaded single in the 10th inning to send the host St. Louis Cardinals to a 2-1 victory against the Chicago Cubs on Friday night.
Carpenter sent a fly ball the opposite way to a largely vacant left field, as the Cubs had loaded four defenders on the right side of the infield. The hit off Steve Cishek scored Kolten Wong, who had doubled into the right field corner with one out, and secured the Cardinals' first walk-off victory of the season.
Chicago relievers Kyle Ryan, Brad Brach and Brandon Kintzler collaborated on three innings of perfect, three-strikeout relief before St. Louis' 10th inning rally against Mike Montgomery (1-1), Dillon Maples and Cishek.
Jordan Hicks (2-2) was the winner, pitching hitless ball in the ninth and 10th with two walks and two strikeouts.
Cubs right-hander Yu Darvish turned in one of his sharpest starts of the season, pitching six innings of three-hit, one-run ball with six strikeouts and three walks.
St. Louis capitalized on Darvish's early control issues to score a first-inning run. After Darvish walked the first two hitters, cleanup batter Marcell Ozuna contributed a sacrifice fly to give the Cardinals an early lead.
Darvish settled down after that, retiring nine in a row before Paul Goldschmidt collected the Cardinals' first hit, a leadoff single in the fourth.
The Cardinals threatened with two on and one out in the fifth but were unable to score, as pitcher Miles Mikolas struck out on a foul bunt and Carpenter struck out looking at a payoff pitch.
Mikolas also took a no-decision with seven innings of one-run ball, spacing six hits, three strikeouts and two walks. The lone run he yielded came in the second, when Darvish hit a sacrifice fly to score Victor Caratini, who led off the inning with a ground-rule double.
Chicago also had its chances against Mikolas.
The Cubs also couldn't cash in with the bases loaded and two outs in the first. Chicago collected consecutive singles to start the fourth but followed with a flyout and a double-play grounder. Albert Almora Jr. hit a two-out triple in the seventh, but the Cubs were unable to score.
Wong (2-for-4) was the only player with a multi-hit game.
--Field Level Media
