Shortly after Pat Hughes said on WGN Radio that it was nearly impossible to hit a home run to left field given the wind shift and intensity, little Darwin Barney said not so fast, blasting a two-out, two-strike homer to tie the game at four in the bottom of the ninth.  Two innings later David DeJesus laced his fourth hit of the day into right field to score pinch runner Brett Jackson and give the Cubs a thrilling 5-4 victory.  If the Cardinals somehow miss the playoffs they might point to this game as a big reason why.  Chris Carpenter made his 2012 debut for the Cardinals and pitched well enough to win, Chris Volstad countered for the Cubs and found himself in trouble all day long.  All you had to do was look at his pitch count at the end of the 5th inning, it told the troublesome story for Volstad, 116 pitches.  Volstad bent but never really broke, he gave up three runs on six hits while walking three with no strikeouts.  Volstad gave his team a chance to win, which is really all you can ask a back of the rotation starter to do.  The Cubs bullpen was once again outstanding today as they pitched the final six innings giving up only one run on two hits while walking three and striking out seven.  As I mentioned, David DeJesus had a huge day at the plate, he finished the day 4-for-6 with a triple, an RBI, and two runs scored.  Darwin Barney, Luis Valbuena, and Welington Castillo all had two hits in the victory, none bigger than Barney’s two-run shot in the ninth.  Great win!

FULL BOX SCORE 

Sveum Postgame

Game Highlights:
Cubs Walk-Off
Barney and Rizzo Team Up
Barney’s Game-Tying Blast
Soriano’s RBI Double

Thanks for reading,
- George