The Cardinals and Cubs have had some memorable games in their long rivalry, add one more chapter to that as Matt Holiday hits a bottom of the ninth walk off home run to not only beat the Cubs 3-2 but reduce the magic number to six.
Cards starter John Smoltz, who had missed his last start, struggled early in the first giving up two runs, but would settle down after that and would give up no more runs. He would leave in the sixth having given up just six hits while striking out six.
Cubs starter Ted Lilly was also very good, not giving up a hit until the fourth.
The Cardinals would get on the board in the fifth when Mark DeRosa drove in Ryan Ludiwck who had singled to lead off the inning. DeRosa would score thanks to a sacrifice fly by Brendan Ryan.
Matt Holliday was the lead off man in the ninth and would send a 3-1 fastball over the right field wall.
Game two of the series is this afternoon with Chris Carpenter looking for win number 17 against the Cubs Ryan Dempster. Game time is 3:10.