Cardinals Road Win Lands Them as League’s Best, Giants Win in Extra Winnings

While one win was nice, two wins were just too much to ask for as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Chicago Cubs 5-4 on Wednesday to split the series with their division rival.

From the win, the Cardinals had five wins over their six-game road trip with a sole loss coming on Tuesday against the Cubs. The Cardinals now lead the league with 14 road wins for the season-to-date and with their 21-12 record, they lead the National League with wins (followed by the Atlanta Braves at 20-13).

They are also the Central Division leader, followed by the Pittsburgh Pirates (18-15).

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said of his team via ESPN, “We’ve been an opportunistic team. We make the most of the opportunities that we’re getting, even though they’re not that many right now. And then they’re resilient, they just keep coming back.”

Cardinals Carlos Beltran

For Wednesday’s game, Carlos Beltran and Jon Jay each drove in two runs while Beltran also had three hits.

As for the Cubs, they’re a different story at 13-21. In a picture-perfect spring day on Wednesday, Wrigley Field saw its lowest attendance for a Cubs-Cardinals game since May 1998.

The team’s bright spot was Anthony Rizzo with his three hits and Nate Schierholtz’s two-run double. Had the Cubs won, it would have only been their second three-game win streak for the season but no, the Cubs instead went 4-6 on this recent homestand.

Next up for these two teams is a day off on Thursday. For the Cardinals, they’ll host the Colorado Rockies this weekend beginning with a Friday game. Righty Shelby Miller (4-2, 1.96 ERA) will take the mound for St. Louis against Colorado righty Jon Garland (2-2, 4.65).

The Cardinals sit at 16 to 1 to win this year’s World Series.

As for the Cubs, after their one-day break, they’ll hit the road on Friday to begin a weekend three-game road series against the Washington Nationals (17-15). Cubs Righty Jeff Samardzija (1-4, 3.09) will go up against Nationals lefty Ross Detwiler (1-3, 2.50).

This season again looks grim for the Cubs as they are 150 to 1 to the World Series while the Nationals look better at 8 to 1.

In other Wednesday action, the San Francisco Giants defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 in 10 innings. A single by Andre Torres on two outs during the 10th inning enabled Buster Posey to score the winning run.

Helping with the win was great pitching by Giants Barry Zito. He now sits at 3-0 (0.55 ERA) from his four home starts. His ERA represents the third-lowest in the MLB. With Zito at the helm at home, he’s won 11 of his regular-season starts.

For Wednesday’s game, Zito pitched until the eighth inning. He had three strikeouts and did not walk any batters–a first for the season.

The Giants sit at 12 to 1 for a repeat World Series win.

As for Philly, Jonathan Pettibone was on the mound and lost his first ever four career starts. In his 5 2/3 innings, he threw 112 pitches. With the loss, the team snapped its first three-game series sweep in San Francisco’s home turf since May 18-20, 1984.

Phillies Roy Halladay

Along with their loss, the Phillies also learned on Wednesday that their veteran righty pitcher Roy Halladay will undergo arthroscopic shoulder surgery for bone spurs. He hopes to have the procedure soon and still thinks it’s still possible that he’ll return later this season.

To-date, Halladay is 2-4 (8.65 ERA).

Next up for the team is a trip to the Arizona Diamondbacks (18-15). This will kick off a seven-game road tour for Philly. Lefty Cole Hamels (1-4) will take the mound for Philly for Friday’s game while lefty Phil Corbin (4-0) will pitch for the Diamondbacks.

For the Phillies, they sit at 30 to 1 to win this year’s World Series, while the Diamondbacks are 33 to 1.