One pitch, one at-bat is all it took to show us what is missing from this Cardinals lineup and just how bad this club needs the Randal Grichuk back in the lineup. Grichuk, taking his first swing against live pitching in 23 days, launched a homer to Big Mac Land estimated at 451 feet. The blast got the Cardinals on the board for the first time in this series against the Cubs and injected some life into the offense.
His homer led to a five-run inning and Grichuk found himself up to bat again later in the same inning of what was now an 8-5 game with the bases loaded.
“They wanted me to wait a little bit longer,” Grichuk said. “They said really it was a matter of getting my timing down and feeling comfortable facing Major League pitching. I said I wanted to help my team win, so I talked to everybody I needed to talk to and got the OK.”
Manager Mike Matheny, assured by the medical staff that Grichuk could not further injure his elbow put Grichuk in after Yadier Molina walked to start the inning.
Watch the homer courtesy MLB.com