St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs
The Cardinals were on the road again, for the fifth time in a row, for Opening Day as they traveled to Chicago. It was Sunday, April 5, 2015 in Wrigley Field. The weather at first pitch was 44 degrees with a 7 mph wind in from centerfield and was a bit sunny. With 35,055 in attendance, the umpires were Mike Winters at home plate, Mark Wegner at first, Marty Foster at second and Mike Muchlinski covering third base.
The visiting Cardinals would send veteran Adm Wainwright for his fourth opening day assignment while the Cubs started lefty Jon Lester.
Manager Mike Matheny sent out this line-up:
St. Louis Cardinals – Manager Mike Matheny
1. Chris Carpenter 3b
2. Jason Heyward rf
3. Matt Holliday lf
4. Jhonny Peralta ss
5. Matt Adams 1b
6. Yadier Molina c
7. Kolten Wong 2b
8. Jon Jay cf
9. Adam Wainwright p
Joe Maddon would start:
1. Dexter Fowler cf
2. Jorge Soler rf
3. Anthony Rizzo 1b
4. Starlin Castro ss
5. Chris Coghlan lf
6. Mike Olt 3b
7. David Ross c
8. Jon Lester p
9. Tommy La Stella 2b
The game started at 7:17 PM with Matt Carpenter leading off with a groundout to second and the season has begun. Jason Heyward would double into the corner with Matt Holliday following with a sharp single. The Cardinals score first and are leading 1-0.
The Cubs start on fire in the first as Dexter Fowler doulbe to start the inning. However, Adam Wainwright gets Soler to groundout, Rizzo to t]strike out looking and Castro hits a tapper back to the mound to keep the Cubs scoreless.
The Cardinals score again in the second inning with a one out walk by Wong and single by Jon Jay to move the runner to third. With two outs, Matt Carpenter singles home a run and it is 2-0 Cardinals.
Again, the Cubs start hot as Chris Coghlan doulbles to start the inning and Wainwright gets Olt to fan, Ross to fly out and Lester gets called out on strikes and the Cubs fail to score.
No scoring happens until the Cardinal half of the 5th inning when Carpenter singles, Heyward singles and Hoilliday singles one home. Heyward steals third and Holliday steals second. The Cubs replace Lester for Phil Coke and he ges out of it with no further damage. Cardinals lead 3-0.
That is all of the scoring for the game as Adam Wainwright gets the win and Jon Lester gets the loss. Wainwright pitched six shutout innings, Carlos Marinez had one inning of no runs, Jordan Walden had one and Trevor Rosenthal got the save as he piitched the 9th inning and fan three batters. Here is what the 9th looked like:
ROSENTHAL REPLACED WALDEN (PITCHING);
Coghlan was called out on strikes; Olt struck out; Alcantara
struck out;
Jason Heyward had three hits (his first game as a Cardinal player) and Carpenter, Holliday and Jay each had two hits.
Final: Cardinals 3, Cubs 0.
Time of Game: 3:04
The Cardinals would go on to win 100 games for the season and the Cubs finish in third place with 97 wins. Neither team goes on the the World Series.