ST. LOUIS -- Randal Grichuk told reporters Monday afternoon that his sore back was OK. A few hours later, Grichuk proved it with his first career walk-off home run.
Grichuk's home run in the bottom of the ninth lifted the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
"I was trying to battle and get a pitch in the zone and put good wood on it and get on," Grichuk said. "Luckily, I was able to get a homer."
Matt Adams tied the score with a two-run home run in the seventh for St. Louis' major league-leading ninth pinch-hit home run of the season. It also ended a streak of 13 innings of one-run pitching by Chicago starter John Lackey against his former team.
"This is a team that can do damage in a hurry," Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny said. "That's something we haven't had in the past as much, the ability for quite a few guys in that lineup that feel good about getting the ball over the fence and create instant offense."
Grichuk drove a 2-2 pitch off of Adam Warren (3-1) for the victory.
Adams drove a high change-up to straight-away center to revive what was a stagnant offense against Lackey. It was Adams' second pinch-hit home run this season and he's hitting .500 off the bench.
"It's no secret," Adams said. "I just make sure I'm ready to go when my name's called."
Trevor Rosenthal (2-1) pitched a scoreless ninth.
The Cubs' Ben Zobrist had three singles and a walk, extending his streak to 29 starts with reaching safely. He is hitting .387 during that span.
St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright pitched in and out of trouble throughout his six innings, scattering seven hits and stranding eight runners, while throwing 68 of his 108 pitches for strikes.
"I had great stuff tonight," Wainwright said. "I loved my stuff. I just have to attack a little better than I did in a couple of those innings. But that stuff translates. That's going to play well the rest of the season."
Lackey gave up three runs in seven economical innings. He struck out nine while throwing just 87 pitches.
"He was really, really, sharp," Cubs Manager Joe Maddon said. "They hit a lot of pop ups, a lot of soft contact."
METS 7, NATIONALS 1 David Wright, Yoenis Cespedes and Neil Walker all homered, leading visiting New York past Washington. Pitching on the eve of his 43rd birthday, Bartolo Colon (4-3) allowed 1 run and 5 hits in 7 innings. Baseball's oldest player struck out two and walked two.
PIRATES 6, ROCKIES 3 Pirates starter Ryan Vogelsong was carted off the field after getting struck in the head by a pitch in the second inning of host Pittsburgh's victory over Colorado. With the bases loaded and Pittsburgh leading 1-0, Rockies starter Jordan Lyles (1-2) hit Vogelsong in the left cheek with a 92 mph fastball. Vogelson was making his second start of the season, filling in because of a rainout Sunday. The Pirates later said he was admitted to the hospital for injuries to his left eye. Vogelsong was replaced by Wilfredo Boscan (1-0), who got the victory in relief. Pittsburgh expects an update on Vogelsong's status today.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
WHITE SOX 7-1, INDIANS 6-5 Rajai Davis' two-run home run in the fifth inning put visiting Cleveland ahead to stay, Jose Ramirez hit his second home run of the day and Juan Uribe also went deep to lead the Indians to a 5-1 victory over Chicago in the second game of a doubleheader. The Indians and White Sox split the doubleheader. The first game was a makeup of an April 10 rainout. Davis' shot to left field off Erik Johnson (0-2) on a 3-0 fastball snapped a 1-1 tie. That was enough offense for Cody Anderson (1-3), who struck out a career-best nine over seven innings as the Indians snapped a three-game skid. In the opener, Brett Lawrie broke a fifth-inning tie with a three-run home run, Todd Frazier hit his 14th home run of the season and the White Sox held on for a 7-6 victory.
ANGELS 2, RANGERS 0 Albert Pujols hit a two-run home run, the 569th of his career, and Nick Tropeano threw 6 2/3 strong innings to help visiting Los Angeles beat Texas. The Angels have won eight of their last 11 games. Pujols' home run in the third inning tied him for 12th in career home runs with Rafael Palmeiro. Tropeano (3-2) allowed 4 hits and 1 walk while striking out 6. Texas' Derek Holland (3-4) pitched 6 2/3 innings, matching his longest outing of the season, and allowed 2 runs on 7 hits.
ROYALS 10, TWINS 4 Salvador Perez had a career-high five hits, including a double, a triple and an RBI, to lead visiting Kansas City to a victory over Minnesota. Paulo Orlando added three hits and two RBI in the rain-delayed game for the Royals, who put All-Star outfielder Alex Gordon on the disabled list on Monday with a fractured right wrist. Ricky Nolasco (1-3) gave up 6 runs on 8 hits and struck out 3 in 2 2/3 innings for the Twins (11-33), who have the worst record in the majors.
INTERLEAGUE
MARLINS 7, RAYS 6 Ichiro Suzuki had four hits, including a single in host Miami's two-run eighth inning, and the Marlins rallied past Tampa Bay. Suzuki, 42, has 10 hits in the past three games to raise his average to .417 and increase his career hit total to 2,960. Struggling Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton put the ball in play in all three at-bats and reached on a single and walk. Marcell Ozuna had three hits for Miami, including his ninth home run. David Phelps (3-2) pitched a perfect eighth. A.J. Ramos pitched around a one-out single in the ninth for his 14th save.
TIGERS 5, PHILLIES 4 Miguel Cabrera hit two of Detroit's four home runs, then scored the tiebreaking run on Victor Martinez's seventh-inning single to lift the Tigers over visiting Philadelphia. J.D. Martinez and Nick Castellanos also homered for Detroit, which has won seven of eight. Maikel Franco and Tommy Joseph each homered for the Phillies, who fell to 14-4 in one-run games this season.
Sports on 05/24/2016