The Cubs entered Friday night’s game against the Cardinals at a serious disadvantage. To wit: Cardinals lefthander Jordan Montgomery had thrown 16 scoreless inning against the Cubs previously this year, allowing just five hits, and last time he faced them he threw a one-hit shutout.
Then Adrian Sampson began this game by throwing a 40-pitch first inning during which he issued a pair of walks and allowed two RBI singles. It didn’t seem as if he’d go much past that inning.
Give Sampson a lot of credit. He settled down and threw just 61 pitches over the next four innings, allowing no further runs, and his line — five innings, four hits, two runs, four strikeouts — looked a lot like many of his other starts this year.