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Chicago Cubs Fall on Opening Day to Cardinals: Recap, Final Score, Highlights and More

By Dan Schmelzer

Apr 2, 2017; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Randal Grichuk (15) celebrates after hitting a walk off single off of Chicago Cubs relief pitcher Mike Montgomery (not pictured) during the ninth inning on opening night at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals won 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 2, 2017; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Randal Grichuk (15) celebrates after hitting a walk off single off of Chicago Cubs relief pitcher Mike Montgomery (not pictured) during the ninth inning on opening night at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals won 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Chicago Cubs take an Opening Day loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. Complete Game recap, highlights and much more.

33. 3. 9. Final. 4

Well, that was not an ideal start to the season for the Chicago Cubs. St. Louis Cardinals ace pitcher Carlos Martinez was absolutely brilliant, shutting down the Cubs lineup through 7.1 innings. Jon Lester was not quite as dominant for the Cubs, but he was able to wiggle in and out of trouble all night.

Lester only allowed one run in the game, a sac fly to Matt Carpenter, scoring Dexter Fowler in the third inning. The score remained 1-0 all the way until the eighth inning. Martinez got into a bit of a jam in the eighth, allowing singles to Willson Contreras and Javier Baez.

The Cardinals called on closer Seung-Hwan Oh to keep the Cubs shutout in the eighth and he did his job, shutting to door on a bases-loaded, one out rally for the Cubs. Oh was able to get Kris Bryant to pop up to short right field and Anthony Rizzo to fly out to get out of the jam.

Then in the bottom of the eighth, Pedro Strop allowed a two-run home run to Randal Grichuk to make the score 3-0. With the Chicago Cubs offense not showing any life, the game appeared to be over. However, Willson Contreras had other ideas.

With one out and two runners on, Contreras crushed a three-run, ninth inning home run to tie up the game.

Unfortunately, Mike Montgomery struggled to get the game into extra innings. Montgomery had the bases loaded with two outs, but allowed a deep single to Grichuk to walk it off for the Cardinals in the ninth inning.

Highlights

Three Stars

Randal Grichuk: 2-4, 1 HR 3 RBI

Grichuk supplied three out of the four runs for the Cardinals offense. His opposite field home run was impressive and he came away with the walk-off hit.

Carlos Martinez: 7.1 IP, 0 R, 6 H, 10 K, 0 BB

Martinez brought his game for Opening Night, keeping the Cubs off-balance throughout the contest. Martinez was nasty in this one and even had sharp control.

Wilson Contreras: 2-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI

Willson Conteras’ ninth-inning home run provided all of the offense for the Cubs in this one. He also had a solid single in the eighth inning. Contreras gets the slight edge over Lester who pitched a gritty game.

Next: Bold Predictions for 2017 Cubs

Next Game

The Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals will face off again in Game Two of this series on Tuesday, April 4. The first pitch is at 7:15. Jake Arrieta will take the mound for the good guys while Adam Wainwright pitches for St. Louis.

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