The St. Louis Cardinals are engaged in a crucial series with the Chicago Cubs this weekend, and after losing the first two games of the series at Wrigley Field, they pulled out a narrow 5-4 victory Saturday. However, there was some unfortunate news during the game as Cardinals outfielder Michael Siani was forced to exit in the ninth inning with an apparent injury.
According to a report from Cardinals reporter Katie Woo, Siani felt tightness along his right oblique and he was replaced by Lars Nootbar.
At the time, the game was tied at 4-4, but the Cardinals scored a run in the top of the ninth to take the lead. Nootbar drove in the eventual winning run with a sacrifice fly to centerfield. Tommy Pham had opened the ninth inning for the Cardinals with a triple, and Nootbar followed with his fly ball to Chicago outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley retired the Cubs in order in the bottom of the ninth inning to secure the victory.
Cardinals take advantage of shoddy Cubs defense
The Cubs appeared to have control of the game as they had a 4-1 lead in the eighth inning, but their defense let them down and allowed the Cardinals to tie the score.
Third baseman Isaac Paredes overthrew first base on a ball hit by Brendan Donovan, and that allowed Alec Burleson to score. Nolan Arenado followed with a pop up to short center field. Second baseman Nico Hoerner camped under the ball, but he was called off by Crow-Armstrong. Hoerner got out of his way, but Crow-Armstrong did not get to the ball in time and it fell in for a two-run tying single.
The Cardinals improve to 57-54 with the victory and they are in second place in the National League Central. The Cubs fell to 54-59 and they are in fourth place in the division.
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