Cubs get 5-run 2nd to beat Cards
St. Louis commits a pair of errors in the big inning
ST. LOUIS — Kyle Hendricks and Addison Russell had successful squeeze bunts and Jorge Soler capped a five-run second with a two-run homer, and the Chicago Cubs held off the St. Louis Cardinals 6-3 on Saturday night to even their NL Division Series at a game apiece.
Manager Joe Maddon made all the right moves a night after the Cubs lost the opener 4-0. Now the teams shift to Wrigley Field for Game 3 on Monday, where Chicago’s 22-game winner Jake Arrieta faces St. Louis’ Michael Wacha in the best-of-five series.
The usually steady NL Central champion Cardinals made two errors as the Cubs didn’t hit the ball out of the infield in scoring their first three runs in the second.
Playing in his first postseason game, Soler connected off Jaime Garcia (0-1), who was lifted because of a stomach ailment after the second inning.
Dexter Fowler, Soler and Starlin Castro each had two of Chicago’s six hits in a game played in front of a crowd of 47,859, a postseason record at 10-year-old Busch Stadium, that included thousands of Cubs fans.
Besides the two-run homer, Soler doubled and walked twice in the Cubs’ first postseason victory since 2003. Chicago had lost seven straight Division Series games.
The Cardinals homered three times, including a leadoff long ball by Matt Carpenter. Consecutive shots by Kolten Wong and pinch hitter Randal Grichuk with two outs in the fifth chased Hendricks one out shy of qualifying for the victory in his postseason debut.
Travis Wood (1-0) allowed one hit with two strikeouts in 2⅓ scoreless innings for the victory. Hector Rondon, briefly stuck in the bullpen bathroom during Game 1, earned the save.