'Pen falters, Game 2 gets away from Cards

The Cardinals’ bullpen held the Cubs’ offense to zero hits through five innings of the second game of Monday’s doubleheader, but once it gave up the first hit, the lead soon followed.

David Bote’s pinch-hit three-run homer off lefty reliever Tyler Webb put the Cubs on top in the Cardinals' 5-4 loss on Monday night, giving St. Louis (5-5) a doubleheader split with Chicago in the first two games of a five-game three-day series at Wrigley Field.

• Box score

In a bullpen game started by Alex Reyes, six relievers were tasked with seven innings. It went smoothly until Génesis Cabrera hit Javier Báez to lead off the sixth inning. Willson Contreras’ RBI double off Webb was the Cubs’ first hit of the night. That’s when things fell apart for Webb. With two outs, he walked left-handed-hitting Jason Heyward on five pitches to put runners on the corners. Then Bote launched a 436-foot homer to center field to give the Cubs the lead.

Webb had trouble locating his breaking balls, and both hits came on fastballs down the middle.

“The walk to Heyward was probably the biggest at-bat,” manager Mike Shildt said. “We know they’re going to hit for [catcher Victor Caratini]. Still liked the matchup and had the right plan, just didn’t execute his pitch. That’s the biggest thing for Tyler. Wasn’t able to control counts, wasn’t able to execute his pitches. The walk to Heyward was probably the biggest one, but Webby’s going to be fine.”

Because Game 2 was a makeup of one of the postponed games last weekend at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals were playing as the home team -- in their road gray uniforms. They had the bottom of the seventh inning but couldn’t come through against Cubs reliever Jeremy Jeffress.

With five games in three days, starters who are still building up arm strength after a 17-day layoff and relievers who are still working up to back-to-back days, the Cardinals are going to require efficient and effective outings out of all of their pitchers. Reyes’ laborious, 24-pitch first inning set the bullpen plan a little off, as he was only able to go one inning, but the relievers who followed mostly pitched out of trouble despite walking nine Cubs.

Shildt acknowledged after Sunday’s loss to the White Sox that managing the packed schedule is a balancing act, especially with pitchers.

“We would have liked to have closer to two [innings] out of Alex to start, but the story of this game was really clear,” he said. “We threw a lot of quality strikes in Game 1 and threw a lot of quality strikes in Game 2, but we didn’t control counts, and every time we did that, it hurt us.”

Monday was almost dubbed "the Brad Miller doubleheader" after the veteran infielder lifted the Cardinals to a 3-1 win in Game 1 and had his 12th career multihomer game in Game 2. Miller signed as a free agent in February to give St. Louis some versatility in the field and in the lineup with his left-handed bat, and he did both on Monday. He played third base in Game 1 and was the designated hitter in Game 2, when he launched his first homer as a Cardinal in the second inning off Cubs starter Tyson Miller. He hit his second in his next at-bat, in the fourth inning.

Miller and rookie Max Schrock, who hit his first career home run, went back-to-back in the fourth to give the Cardinals a 4-1 lead.

Though Miller is a seasoned American Leaguer, Monday was the first time he played at Wrigley Field in his eight-year career; it's the 22nd MLB stadium in which he's homered.

“Homers are cool,” Miller said. “I try to do it all over.”

And he’s off to a quick start after injuries shortened his Spring Training and Summer Camp.

“We’re thrust into a unique situation, and I think obviously we love the preparation and the at-bats and everything, but also when it comes down to it, nobody cares,” he said. “If you’re in that lineup and you’re in that box, you better figure it out and compete. I’ve enjoyed it because guys are really embracing the fact that video’s limited, information’s limited, time here is limited, conversations are limited. But we are just throwing it back a little bit and trying to compete.”