Cubs Manager Mike Quade made a trip to the mound in the bottom of the 12th inning to instruct Jeff Samardzija and Geovany Soto how to handle the upcoming at bat of Albert Pujols. Unfortunately the message wasn’t received, as Pujols hit his ninth career game-ending home run to lead the Cardinals to a 5-4 victory in 12 innings.
Pujols was the story of the game. The Cardinals (35-25) slugger isn’t having his typical MVP type season, but don’t tell that to the Cubs (23-33). On Saturday Pujols had two home runs and a double to drive in four of the cardinals five runs. Many Cubs fans are probably wondering why you would even pitch to Pujols in that situation.
Randy Wells started the game for the Cubs and pitched ok. Wells went 5.2 innings and gave up four runs on just three hits. This was his second start since coming off the DL. The Cubs bullpen pitched great. Five relievers pitched a total of six innings allowing only the one run.
Kyle Lohse didn’t live up to his impressive stats he has had this season, but kept his team in the game. Lohse went 5.2 innings and gave up four runs on 11 hits. The Cardinals bullpen bailed him out though shutting the Cubs out for the final 6.1 innings of the game and gave up just one hit.
Eduardo Sanchez earned the win for St Louis to improve his record to 2-1 on the season. Jeff Samardzija took the loss for the Cubs dropping his record to 3-2. With Saturday’s victory the Cardinals won the series and will go for the sweep Sunday afternoon.