As they recovered from an odious early inning for a just-missed-it finish, the Cardinals did enough well Wednesday against the archrival Cubs to have a game play out exactly like they hope their season won’t.
The Cubs, as they have in the standings, rampaged to a quick and swollen lead, dicing starter Carlos Martinez for six runs in the second inning. The Cardinals whittled away. A home run here. A home run there. An unthinkable four runs off the best righthander in baseball and the tying run on base in the fourth, fifth, eighth and ninth innings. The Cardinals did during the game what they aim to do in the division race — chip into the Cubs’ lead – only to find themselves in the ninth where they don’t want to be by October.