CHICAGO _ The stunning return of Anthony Rizzo invigorated a Wrigley Field crowd of 39,524 Thursday night as much as his game-tying home run in the bottom of the third inning against the National League Central leading Cardinals.
After being held to three hits in eight innings against Jack Flaherty, the Cubs mounted a maddening three-run, game-tying rally in the ninth inning against Carlos Martinez and Andrew Miller.
But those developments merely set the stage for the biggest in a series of letdowns in a fizzling 2019 season, as Matt Carpenter crushed a home run off recently activated closer Craig Kimbrel with one out in the 10th inning to hand the Cubs a devastating 5-4 loss.
Kimbrel, making his first appearance since Sept. 1 due to right elbow tendinitis, has allowed seven home runs in 19 2/3 innings as the Cubs fell four games behind the Cardinals with nine games left.
In the process, the Cubs (82-71) fell one game behind the Brewers for the second NL wild-card berth after losing their third consecutive game.
The Cubs tried to pull out all the stops, from the return of Rizzo, to Javier Baez performing pinch-running duties with a protective mitt to protect his fractured left thumb and scoring the tying run in the ninth, to Kimbrel being activated shortly before the game.
But they faced an uphill battle, even after Ben Zobrist and Willson Contreras came through with RBI hits during the ninth-inning rally.
Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty limited the Cubs to three hits as he lowered his ERA to 0.80 over his last 79 innings.
And in his last two starts against the Cubs, Flaherty has allowed one run on four hits in 15 innings.
His only blemish was the home run to Rizzo with two out in the third. Rizzo, who suffered a grade two sprain of his right ankle while trying to field a bunt Sunday, wasn't even supposed to be re-evaluated until this weekend while having his foot placed in a protective boot.
But Rizzo received a cortisone injection Monday, and trainers worked constantly on reducing the swelling to the point where Rizzo performed running drills about 25 minutes prior to Thursday's game and was cleared to play after the medical staff supervised his drills.
Along with the unexpected return of Rizzo, the Cubs banked their hopes on the past dominance of Kyle Hendricks, who was 3-0 with an 0.39 ERA in three previous starts against the Cardinals this season and had posted the NL's lowest home ERA (1.75) entering Thursday's game.
The Cubs had beaten the Cardinals in their 11 consecutive games started by Hendricks, the longest streak by a Cubs pitcher against the Cardinals since at least 1908.
But the bottom of the Cardinals' order, led by rookie switch-hitter Tommy Edman, chipped away at Hendricks.
Edman led off the third with a single, and the Cardinals loaded the bases when Flaherty laid down a perfectly-placed bunt that Rizzo jogged slowly to field without a play.
Dexter Fowler grounded into a double play that gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead, but they continued to put pressure on Hendricks, who allowed four runs against the Cardinals for the first time since June 4, 2017.
Paul Goldschmidt led off the fourth with a double but was left stranded. But Edman pulled a triple down the right field line to start the fifth and scored on a single by Harrison Bader.
The Cardinals knocked out Hendricks, who batted for himself in the fifth, during a two-run sixth.
Goldschmidt, acquired from the Diamondbacks last December to fortify an offense that had lacked a consistent presence in the middle of the order, led off the sixth with a double.
Yadier Molina hit a hard single to left, and third base coach Ron "Pop" Warner initially gave Goldschmidt the stop sign until left fielder Kyle Schwarber bobbled the ball.
Schwarber recovered to make a strong throw to home plate, but catcher Willson Contreras couldn't handle the throw as Goldschmidt ran around him to score.
Left-hander Brad Wieck replaced Hendricks, but Bader hit a double with two out to score Paul DeJong.
