Pinch hitter Mike Tauchman doubled home the winning run to cap a three-run bottom of the ninth as the host Chicago Cubs rallied for a 5-4 walk-off victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday in the opener of a four-game series.
Tauchman sliced a 2-2 fastball by Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley (4-4) into the left field corner to drive in Dansby Swanson from second base for the winning run.
Chicago trailed 4-2 entering the bottom of the ninth against Helsley who had converted 33 of his previous 35 save tries.
Cody Bellinger, who doubled earlier, cut the lead to 4-3 with one out when he lined his 11th homer to left-center. One out later, Nico Hoerner bounced a single to center and then stole second. Swanson then tied it with a double to left to set the stage for Tauchman’s opposite-field game-winner.
Nate Pearson (1-1) picked up the win with two scoreless innings of one-hit relief.
Seiya Suzuki homered among his two hits, and Hoerner and Swanson each had two hits as Chicago earned its second victory in a row.
Paul Goldschmidt homered, doubled and singled and scored two runs and Masyn Winn homered and had two hits and two RBIs for St. Louis, which had a two-game winning streak snapped. Tommy Pham, Nolan Arenado and Michael Siani also had two hits apiece for the Cardinals.
St. Louis took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Goldschmidt’s 17th home run of the season, a 404-foot drive to left-center.
Chicago tied it in the second when Bellinger led off with a line-drive double off the bottom of the right field fence, advanced to third on a single by Hoerner and scored on a single by Swanson.
The Cubs took a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning when Suzuki belted his 16th home run, a 459-foot drive to center that was the team’s longest homer of the season.
St. Louis regained the lead, 4-2, in the seventh. Winn made it 3-2 when he lined his eighth homer 375 feet into the basket above the left field wall, driving in Siani, who had singled. One out later Goldschmidt doubled to knock Chicago starter Shota Imanaga out of the game, then came around to score on a single by Arenado off reliever Jorge Lopez.
Imanaga gave up four runs on 10 hits in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out seven and didn’t issue a walk.
Cardinals starter Sonny Gray allowed two runs on five hits and a walk in seven innings. He fanned nine.