Still reeling from the rash of injuries that have occurred in the last few days, the Chicago Cubs headed to St. Louis in search of any sort of good news. Unfortunately, Ryan Dempster turned in one of his poorest starts in recent trips to the mound and the injury depleted lineup was unable to solve Jaime Garcia.
Dempster gave up six runs on eight hits and three walks over five innings. Three of those runs came off of a Lance Berkman home run, while two more were tallied when Albert Pujols took Dempster deep in the fifth inning.
Playing mostly backups and rookies, the Cubs couldn’t seem to get anything going against St. Louis starter Jaime Garcia. Garcia pitched eight innings, holding the Cubs to just four hits and one run on the night. That run came in the fifth inning, when Lou Montanez hit an RBI double that scored Carlos Pena. Given how well the Cardinals have been playing lately, it’s really no surprise that Eduardo Sanchez was able to close out the remaining inning in the game while giving up only one hit.
The Cubs will try to bounce back on Saturday at Busch Stadium. First pitch will be at 3:10 P.M., CDT.