22 July, 2017
OUR PREDICTION: The Cardinals are 1-5 in Martinez's last six road starts and are winless in his last five starts overall.
The Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals resume game two of their 3-game set.
"We had a bad inning pitching", Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.
Lester, who makes his 21st start of the season and 12th at home on Saturday, is coming off a seven-inning effort where he allowed just one run on three hits in a 4-3 Cubs victory on July 17. The most interesting NL Central matchup of the weekend will be the Cubs hosting the Cardinals at Wrigley Field.
Chicago carried a 3-2 lead into the eighth, looking for its seventh consecutive win.
The Cubs led 2-0 in the first as Contreras clubbed his 14th home run, scoring Zobrist in the process.
Fowler went 3-for-4 to lead the Cardinals while Carpenter, Pham and Grichuk each had two hits. He has a 2.37 lifetime ERA in 12 starts against the Cardinals, the third-lowest active ERA among pitchers with at least 10 starts against St. Louis. Willson Contreras had two RBIs to lead the team today, while Anthony Rizzo, and Alberto Almora Jr. each picked up an RBI as well. He faced two batters and tossed six pitches in his return on Friday. Hector Rondon then walked Jedd Gyorko, tying it at 3, and DeJong followed with a drive into the ivy in right-center for a ground-rule double.
"When you get going, you keep going", said Kelly, who was called up from Triple-A Memphis on Friday and inserted into the lineup when starter Yadier Molina was a late scratch. "It's sore. It's just a soreness and he's got to grip the bat, and that's what it really comes down to". Rookie catcher Carson Kelly, just recalled from AAA Memphis almost hit a grand slan home run.
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetDSI, the Cubs are -145 money line favorites versus the Cardinals, who have odds of +133 to pull off the upset at Wrigley. The Pirates touched up the Cubs for 10 first-inning runs in the final game before the All-Star break after the Brewers had scored seven innings in the third inning of an 11-2 three days earlier that put the Cubs that led to a pre-break deficit that shrunk during the Cubs' six-game win streak. He's also likely to miss Saturday.
Los Angeles Angels' Mike Trout, left, celebrates his two-run home run with Yunel Escobar during the seventh inning of the team's baseball game against the Washington Nationals in Anaheim, Calif., Wednesday, July 19, 2017.
