Wednesday afternoon the Cardinals rallied late to beat the Cubs and salvage the final game of their three-game series (STL 4, CHC 3). Chicago still won two of three in the series.
Cardinals outfielder Randal Grichuk, who is a dark horse NL Rookie of the Year candidate, recently came off the DL after dealing with an elbow problem. He is still not able to throw at full strength, however, but the Cardinals let him play center field anyway. The Cubs took advantage and ran at will:
Grichuk fielded Anthony Rizzo's first inning double, and rather than throw the ball in to the infield, he flipped it to right fielder Jason Heyward. Heyward then threw the ball to the cutoff man. That was the team's plan to keep Grichuk from making any max-effort throws.
Here's more from Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
The Cardinals took a risk coming into the game, putting Randal Grichuk, whose ailing right elbow keeps him from throwing, in center field even though his arm wouldn't allow him to do much in the way of throwing. The Cardinals were hoping to get some oomph from Grichuk's bat – he homered in his return on Tuesday – while being able to finesse any plays he might have to make.
Grichuk said on Monday that what limited throwing he had done had not been pain-free, and that throws of just 60 feet caused discomfort. But he had done additional work since then and the Cardinals were confident that he could field the position and make the throws he had to make. B placing him in center field, there would always be someone nearby. Manager Mike Matheny met with Grichuk to discuss game situations and how he should handle them. The lesson in a nutshell: This is no time for heroics. Let someone else make the throws.
The Cardinals rallied late to win Wednesday's game to push their MLB best record to 88-51. They have a 4 1/2 game lead in the NL Central. I guess they can afford to experiment with outfielders who can't throw with that big a lead. I can't imagine the "flip it to someone else" strategy will be employed in the postseason, however.
The 24-year-old Grichuk is hitting .281/.330/.563 (137 OPS+) with 21 doubles and 16 home runs in 88 games this season.
