By MATT PIKE
The St. Louis Cardinal held on to take the the second game of the series against their bitter rivals from the NL Central, beating the Chicago Cubs 8-7 at Busch Stadium on Tuesday evening, securing at least a series split.
The Cardinals opened the scoring again on Tuesday, again thanks to Lars Nootbaar hitting a two run home run, much like on Monday, scoring Willson Contreras for a quick 2-0 lead in the second inning, but St. Louis did not hold that for long, the Cubs striking for five runs in the very next inning.
With the bases loaded in the third, Kyle Tucker tied up the game for the Cubs on a two RBI single, driving in Nico Hoerner and Matt Shaw. Chicago blew the lead open thanks to a three run home run by Seiya Suzuki, scoring Ian Happ and Tucker. In the bottom half of the inning, St. Louis cut the lead to one on their sixth two run home run of the series, Masyn Winn driving in Brendan Donovan with the blast to left center field.
St. Louis continued to score on home runs in the fourth inning, tying up the game thanks to a solo home run by Nolan Gorman. Winn gave the Cardinals the lead in the inning, driving in the first runs of the series not on a home run, doubling to score Pedro Pagés and Victor Scott II. Winn later scored on a sacrifice fly by Alec Burleson.
A two run home run by Hoerner in the sixth inning drove in Dansby Swanson for the final two runs by the Cubs. JoJo Romero and Phil Maton set held the lead for Ryan Helsley to come on in the ninth for the Cardinals, giving up two hits and striking out one for his 15th save.
Steven Matz earned the win in relief for the Cardinals, improving to 4-2 on the season, giving up two runs on two hits and striking out one over 1 1/3 innings. At the plate, Gorman was 3-for-4 with the home run and one RBI. Winn was 2-for-4 with a double and a home run, driving in four runs.
St. Louis looks to lock up a series win as their series with Chicago continues tomorrow. Erick Fedde (3-6, 3.54 ERA) takes the mound for the Cardinals against Matthew Boyd (6-3, 2.84 ERA) for the Cubs. First pitch is at 6:45pm, the game will be joined near the start at 6:35 over on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.