Jason Heyward has hit .429 with four doubles and a homer in 21 at-bats against Lester.
The Cardinals had been hitting .122 against left-handers since Sept. 6 before going 6 for 16 on Saturday.
St. Louis' Carlos Martinez (13-7, 3.02) snapped his recent slump Tuesday, yielding one run and four hits while striking out nine over eight innings in a 3-1, 10-inning victory at Milwaukee. He had posted a 5.60 ERA over his previous five starts.
"Best I've ever seen him throw," manager Mike Matheny told MLB's official website. "That was no-hit stuff."
He's 1-0 in four games against the Cubs this year despite a 6.32 ERA, largely inflated from the seven runs he gave up over 3 2/3 innings in the Cardinals' 10-9 victory May 4.
Starlin Castro is batting .386 over his last 22 games and 5 for 7 in this series, but he's 1 for 11 with five strikeouts against Martinez.
Maddon was ejected in the ninth inning Saturday along with reliever Hector Rondon after his pitch hit Greg Garcia, who was the third Cardinal to be struck on the day. A night earlier, Maddon called the Cardinals a "vigilante group" after Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch from Tyler Lyons, which may have been retaliation for Matt Holliday being hit in the head earlier.
After Garcia was hit, Matt Carpenter went deep before Tommy Pham and Heyward singled, but Pedro Strop came on to get the final three outs.
"It was a very intense game," said Carpenter, 8 for 17 with three homers in the last four games. "But you know what? Every game from here on out is going be an intense game."
Holliday, who returned Friday after missing 41 games with a quad strain, didn't play but was available off the bench and should hold the same status Sunday. He's 5 for 9 off Lester.
The Series:
St. Louis leads season series 10-8
September 18, 2015-Chicago 8, St.Louis 3
September 19, 2015-Chicago 5, St.Louis 4
September 20, 2015-STL (Martínez) @ CHC (Lester) -1:20 PM CDT
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said Saturday that Randal Grichuk (elbow) is "getting close" to being a "viable option" in center field.
Battling a right elbow strain, Grichuk increased the intensity of his throws from 90 feet on Saturday. "Significant carry," Matheny said. "He’s about at that spot where he can hit a cutoff man wherever we put him in the outfield." The outfielder indicated previously that he'd like to throw from 100-120 feet with no restrictions before returning to the field full-time. Whether Grichuk will be ready to return at some point during the upcoming week remains to be seen.
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Sep 20 - 9:54 AM
What do you all think of the amount of Martinez's total innings this year? I'd think they at the very least they pull him early in his remaining starts, but not today as this one seems important. According to ESPN he is at 172+ with his previous high being 120. Threw 100 pitches in 8 innings last start.
Honestly, let's absolutely embarrass these cocksure dicks. But as stated above, we CANNOT continue to allow the opposition to score early and run up the pitch count. Seems like the only games we've been competetive in this month were against the lowly Brewers. The sweep felt great, but I'd gladly trade playing sound baseball against our upper division rivals, for getting swept at the hands Mil.
MinorLeagueGuy wrote:The sweep felt great, but I'd gladly trade playing sound baseball against our upper division rivals, for getting swept at the hands Mil.
In other words, be the Pittsburgh Pirates?
They're in no better situation than the Cardinals are. In fact, they're 4 games worse than the Cardinals.
1. Matt Carpenter (L) 3B
2. Tommy Pham (R) CF
3. Jason Heyward (L) RF
4. Jhonny Peralta (R) SS
5. Stephen Piscotty (R) LF
6. Kolten Wong (L) 2B
7. Yadier Molina (R) C
8. Brandon Moss (L) 1B
9. Carlos Martinez (R) P
Chicago
1. Dexter Fowler (S) CF
2. Kyle Schwarber (L) LF
3. Chris Coghlan (L) RF
4. Anthony Rizzo (L) 1B
5. Kris Bryant (R) 3B
6. Tommy La Stella (L) 2B
7. Addison Russell (R) SS
8. David Ross (R) C
9. Jon Lester (L) P
(92-56) at Chicago
(87-61)
