Aramis Ramirez hit a low fastball into the left field bleachers for a walk-off homer off Cardinals reliever Dennys Reyes to give the Cubs to a 7-5 victory on Saturday at Wrigley Field.
It was really a great game to watch with both teams coming up with clutch hits and both teams coming up with clutch pitching.
Cubs Reliever Carlos Marmol came in for Neal Cotts, who walked two hitters on eight straight pitches to lead off the seventh, and escape the jam getting to preserve a 5-4 lead. But to open the eighth, he allowed back-to-back doubles to Chris Duncan and Yadier Molina to tie the game at 5-5. Molina fought off two tough pitches to keep the at bat alive.
Cubs closer Kevin Gregg bailed out his setup man. Gregg struck out the next two batters and got Skip Schumaker to ground out to minimize the damage. He also worked a perfect ninth.
Cards’ starter Kyle Lohse was cruising along with the three run lead, but gave up a two run double to Derrek Lee, apart of a three run fifth to tie the game. Ryan Ludwick had another good game going 2 for 5 with two RBI.
Starter Ryan Dempster went six innings, keeping the Cubs in the game after giving up four early runs. Once Khalil Greene led off the fourth inning with a solo home run to give the Cardinals a 4-1 lead, Dempster retirer nine of the final 10 hitters he faced.
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