Fragen und Antworten » -loaded sacrifice fly tied it at 3. Veras

ST. LOUIS -- Chicago Cubs closer Jose Veras stumbled first. Then it was Trevor Rosenthals turn to fail -- at the plate and on the mound. Welington Castillo hit a three-run homer in the 11th inning off the St. Louis closer, who struck out with an unusual chance to win it, and the Cubs beat the Cardinals 6-3 on Friday night. "I know he throws really hard," Castillo said. "So I just waited for something over the plate that I can drive, and I put my best wood on it." The Cardinals tied it with two runs in the ninth and had runners on first and second with two outs in the 10th when manager Mike Matheny decided against a pinch hitter. Rosenthal (0-1) took a called third strike in his second career at-bat and said he didnt carry any disappointment back to the mound. "Uh no, because I mean, Im not here to hit," Rosenthal said. "So its easy to kind of brush it off and just go out there and try to have another shutdown inning." Nate Schierholtz doubled for his fourth straight hit leading off the 11th and advanced on a sacrifice. Starlin Castro was intentionally walked and Ryan Kalish popped out on a bunt attempt before Castillo lined a 1-1 fastball 426 feet to left for his second homer. "I figured he might be hunting for a fastball," Rosenthal said. "Looking at the video, I didnt get it up quite as much as Id hoped, but he put a good swing on a good pitch. "Not much you can do about it." Justin Grimm (1-0) walked Matt Holliday and Matt Adams on eight pitches to start the 10th but got out of it, partly because Matheny left Pete Kozma and Tony Cruz on the bench. Grimm struck out Yadier Molina and got Shane Robinson to fly out before facing Rosenthal. Matheny said hed have batted Kozma with less than two outs. He also banked on another shutdown inning from Rosenthal, who needed just six pitches in the 10th. "Youve got a real good feeling hes going to bring us back in with another zero," Matheny said. "We had two shots at getting the guy in from second." Hector Rondon finished for his first career save. Veras hit two batters and walked another in the ninth. One run scored on a passed ball by Castillo, helping the Cardinals score twice in the inning. Matt Carpenters bases-loaded sacrifice fly tied it at 3. Veras has blown both his save chances and has allowed five earned runs in 3 2-3 innings with three hit batters and seven walks. "A shaky outing," Cubs manager Rick Renteria said, "but hes still our guy." Chicago starter Jeff Samardzija worked seven economic innings for the third straight start, exiting with a 1.29 ERA. He finally got some runs to work with, but was denied a win for the ninth straight outing since Aug. 24 at San Diego. "You keep pitching and giving your team a chance to win," Samardzija said. "Everyone is trying to do their jobs and sometimes balls find holes, and sometimes they dont." Ryan Sweeneys RBI single off Carlos Martinez tied it in the seventh and was the Cubs first run in 21 innings when Samardzija starts. Anthony Rizzos sacrifice fly off Kevin Siegrist snapped a tie in a two-run eighth. Cubs pinch hitters were 1 for 18 before the eighth inning when Justin Ruggiano, batting for Samardzija, singled off Martinez, and Mike Olt, batting for Luis Valbuena, singled off Siegrist. Molinas RBI single in the second was his 10th hit in 18 career at-bats against Samardzija. He had two hits and is batting .455 (25 for 55) with three homers and 17 RBIs against the Cubs the last two seasons. Cardinals starter Joe Kelly allowed an unearned run in six innings. He faced the minimum through the first five innings with the help of two double-play balls. NOTES: The Cubs appeal of a hit by pitch call on Allen Craig in the ninth was denied. ... Castro got a strange assist at SS in the fourth when he staggered and dropped Hollidays towering popup with a runner on first. The ball rolled directly to second baseman Emilio Bonifacio for a forceout as Kolten Wong slid back into first. ... Adam Wainwright (1-1, 1.29 ERA) faces Carlos Villanueva (1-2, 4.26) on Saturday. ... Kelly has pitched at least five innings in all 31 career starts, the longest streak by a St. Louis starter 25 or younger since 25-year-old Dizzy Dean went 35 in a row in 1935, according to STATS. ... St. Louis SS Jhonny Peralta was hitless in three at-bats before coming out in a double switch and is 2 for 31 (.063) on the season, both home runs. Saucony Shoes Australia .com) - The Chicago Cubs reportedly signed recently-acquired outfielder Dexter Fowler to a one-year contract on Friday, avoiding arbitration. Buy Saucony Shoes . Consider it received. Attacking on offence early and often, the Penguins topped the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 on Saturday night as Jussi Jokinen scored the go-ahead goal in the third period to help give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference playoff series. http://www.wholesalesauconyaustralia.com/. 5 Trade Deadline is drawing closer and teams will be deciding on whether to buy or sell while figuring out which players can make the biggest difference and hold the greatest value. Cheap Saucony Shoes Australia . "Yes, Id like to get them in," Detroits rookie manager said. "Mother Natures going to have a say in that." Sure enough, the Tigers had their game against the Kansas City Royals postponed because of rain on Thursday. Cheap Saucony Shoes . -- Felix Girard scored on the power play in the third period to lift the Baie-Comeau Drakkar past the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada 4-3 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action Friday.WINNIPEG -- Canadas Olympic curlers will compete in the Continental Cup, which starts Thursday in Las Vegas. Winnipegs Jennifer Jones, the Canadian womens skip, is looking forward to the event. "It will be great to go back and start competing," she said Tuesday. "A lot of the teams there will be going to the Olympics so its a great event, the Continental Cup. "Its kind of a loose event so we can go and get some games under our belt." Not that Joness rink hasnt been training hard. The squad just returned from Edmonton where it was preparing for the Olympics. "Were prepared," she said. "We had a reallyy good plan going into the trials and I feel we have an even better plan heading into the Olympics.dddddddddddd. "Were feeling great about everything." Canadas mens team headed by Brad Jacobs will also be there, along with Winnipegs Jeff Stoughton and Ottawas Rachel Homan. Theyll be playing for North America with U.S. Olympic hopefuls Erika Brown and John Shuster. Five of the six teams competing for Team World in Las Vegas will also be at the Olympics: Scotlands David Murdoch and Eve Muirhead, Niklas Edin and Margaretha Sigfridsson of Sweden and Norways Thomas Ulsrud. The format is modelled after golfs Ryder Cup. ' ' '