CHICAGO _ While the Cubs got a little bit of everything in their final home game of the regular season _ a send-off for a beloved catcher, shutout innings from their lefty ace, a record a century in the making _ they also got a win because of how little the Cardinals could muster.
The Cardinals' might-or-flight lineup kept mostly quiet as the division champion clubs inched closer to 100 victories this season with a 3-1 win Sunday night at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs got a solo home run from retiring catcher Dave Ross and 6 2/3 innings scoreless innings from Jon Lester to keep the Cardinals treading water in the wild-card swamp. A day after drilling the Cubs for 10 runs, they could only manage a run, and it wasn't even a regular who scored it. If they're to end the final week of the regular season with a spot in the playoffs, the offense is going to have to rev more consistently instead of lurch to large totals. In their past 23 games the Cardinals have lost 12 and that's chiefly because of an AWOL offense. In nine of those 12 losses, they've scored two or fewer runs. At the root of such lineup lags have been key slumps by players like Brandon Moss and Stephen Piscotty, each of whom continues to hit in prominent spots.
The Cardinals got the tying run to third base in the eighth inning after Jhonny Peralta's single scored rookie Jose Martinez. Moss, trapped in a September-long slump, drilled a pitch to center field _ where it was caught to end the inning. That assured that Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman loomed for the ninth. The lefty brought in the equivalent of a no-hitter against the Cardinals with nine consecutive no-hit appearances spanning nine innings and included 14 strikeouts. He, predictably, pitched a scoreless ninth.
The win gave the Cubs, in their 100th year at Wrigley, a record 57th at home.
The loss kept the Cardinals a { game back of the San Francisco Giants for the National League's second wild card. The Cardinals have seven games remaining, all of them at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals return home, where they will not have a winning record, having secured a 48-33 record on the road.
They went 5-5 on this essential road trip.
They finished 9-10 against the Cubs.
The game was played under a pall as both teams recognized and memorialized the death of Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez early Monday morning. The Cardinals did not start rookie shortstop Aledmys Diaz, who grew up with Fernandez in Cuba and was a boyhood teammate of the right-hander, but Carlos Martinez did get the nod.
This was not the first time Martinez had to pitch with mourning in the air.
It was Martinez that drew the start on May 31, 2015, the year anniversary of his friend and teammate Oscar Taveras' major-league debut. Martinez was so emotional that day warming up in the bullpen that his pitching coach was unsure the right-hander would be able to start. He didn't just start. He dominated. Martinez struck out eight, held the Dodgers to one hit, and got the win with seven shutout innings.
Martinez wore his sadness on his sleeve and, literally, on his hat Sunday night. On the sides of the interlocking "STL" he wrote "OT 18" for Taveras and "JF 16" for Fernandez. He also wrote both numbers on the mound before he started pitching the first inning, and circled them both.
While Taveras and Martinez had grown up together in the Dominican Republic, Martinez had only recently grown to know Fernandez.
Martinez and rookie Alex Reyes attended a mutual friend's birthday party during spring training, and all three were featured in a photo taken with a band that played at the party. Martinez posted that picture on Twitter on Sunday, and beside another photo of Fernandez and him on Instagram he wrote how Fernandez "told me even at our young age we could be leaders and horses of our respective teams, you (taught) me to have fun doing so."
Martinez has been all of those things for the Cardinals _ a leader from the mound, a horse for the rotation, and he's had fun doing it all. With six innings pitched Sunday, Martinez added to his season-high innings and, at 188 2/3 innings, he can surpass 190 for the first time in his career in his final regular-season start. To complete six Sunday, Martinez had to tiptoe around some threats, especially early in the game. The Cubs got a walk from Martinez in the first and third inning, and the leadoff hitter reached base in the first and second inning.
The Cubs got six batters to first base in the first three innings, but only two of them reached base safely. The Cubs had two at-bats with runners in scoring position.
One was by Lester.
He grounded out.
Martinez struck out six, and the two runs the Cubs got against him came on three swings: the solo homer by Ross and back-to-back doubles in the sixth inning.
Throughout the weekend the Cubs celebrate the final regular-season home games of catcher Ross' career. The adored veteran announced at the start of this season that his 15th in the majors would be his last, and as Lester's personal catcher that meant Sunday was the final home start of his career. He wept Saturday as the Cubs presented him with a framed jersey at home plate, and each time he came to the plate Sunday night an ovation would build.
Yadier Molina, as he does with former Cardinals when they return to Busch Stadium, stepped in front of the plate and had Martinez back off the rubber.
That gave time for the ovation's crescendo.
Ross, at one point, tried to wave his fellow catcher back behind the plate, shrugging when Molina wouldn't do so. In the fifth inning, Molina did the same thing. He stepped in front of the plate, and he had Martinez step back. Another ovation rose and ushered Ross into the box. On the second pitch Martinez threw, Ross put the Cubs ahead.
His solo home run found the left-field bleachers for a 1-0 lead.
The Cardinals had more than 4 minutes of replay work for and against them in the sixth inning, and while they weren't able to take advantage of the call that went their way the Cubs did. In the top of the sixth inning, rookie Jose Martinez beat a throw to second base to scuttle the Cubs chances at a double play. Martinez was initially ruled out, but after a 2-minute, 15-second review by officials in New York on the Cardinals' challenge the rookie was given second base. That gave the Cardinals a chance with two runners on and Matt Carpenter at the plate.
Lester got Carpenter and Piscotty to hit grounders.
He turned those two pitches into three outs and the Cardinals' rally ended with Martinez running home from third as Piscotty was thrown out at first.
In the bottom of the inning, Ben Zobrist challenged Martinez's arm from left field and successfully took second for a double. Addison Russell followed with a shot down the left-field line that initially ruled foul. The Cubs challenged, and after 2-minute, 8-second review the video showed that white-painted grass kicked up when the ball landed. Russell was given second base, Zobrist home, and the Cubs had a 2-0 lead on the Cardinals.
