ST. LOUIS (AP) – Albert Almora Jr. robbed Matt Adams of a home run and Javier Baez made a terrific sliding stop on Kolten Wong’s game-ending grounder, sending Jake Arrieta and the Chicago Cubs to a 2-1 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.
It looked as if the Cardinals had tied the game in the seventh, but Almora tracked Adams’ deep fly ball to the wall and hauled it in with a leaping grab at the top of the fence in center. A pumped-up Almora then celebrated with left fielder Kyle Schwarber as Adams tipped his batting helmet in appreciation of the catch.
St. Louis had a runner on first in the ninth when Baez went into short right field to take a hit away from Wong. The Cardinals challenged the call on the bang-bang play, but it was allowed to stand.