Admittedly though the back door, as the Giants lost to the A's to eliminate themselves.
Friday's game was typical of the meetings between the top three in the NL Central. As we have noted before, there isn't much between them. Both Lester and Cole pitched excellent games. Lester left behind 2-1, but what turned out to be the deciding run came against Pedro Strop in the eighth after a couple of sloppy plays behind him. Montero muffed the third strike to the Pirates leadoff man Jordy Mercer. Later on, the Pirates scored on a groundball to Castro that he was forced to play to first base after apparently failing to get a good enough grip on the ball to attempt a play at the plate. Tough luck, I guess, but in my mind Russell or Baez makes that play and saves a run.
The run turned out to be important when the Cubs scored in the bottom of the ninth inning on a double by Denorfia and a triple by Castro. Soler and Baez struck out swinging to end the game. Soler was the key there, as one would expect Baez to whiff in those circumstances. So the real difference was that Starling Marte was able to put a ball in play with a runner on third and Soler was not.
Looking ahead, the Hammel game tomorrow is still the key. Should the Cubs win, they still have a chance to catch the Pirates for home field. They pretty much have to run the table to do it, but the Pirates do have to play three games against the Cardinals. The Pirates elimination number is six, so even if they lose the last two to the Cubs in Chicago, they still have a mathematical shot at the Cards and the Cards will be looking to close them out when they meet next week.
I still like the Cubs chances to advance to the wild card slot with Arrieta pitching. Arrieta matches up well against nearly everyone. Cole pitched well Friday, but the Cubs were able to run up the pitch count a bit. They were a little unlucky to create most of their early chances with Ross or Lester due up. That will not be the case next time.
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