Tonight’s Cubs/Cardinals game should not have come down to the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th with the winning run on 1st for the redbirds, but it did. Either way, Aaron Miles grounded out and the Cubs hung on 5-3 while the Brewers lost 6-3 to the Reds, pushing them to 1.5 games back. The Cubs scored first in the 4th when Mark DeRosa‘s bloop single scored Aramis Ramirez. Albert Pujols homered off Carlos Zambrano in the 6th to tie the game at one. Cliff Floyd answered in the 7th with a solo blast of his own, his 3rd straight game with a HR and 8th of the season. Lou Piniella had to make a key decision in the 9th when the Cubs loaded the bases with 2 outs and Zambrano due up. Daryle Ward came up big with a 3 run pinch hit double to make it 5-1.

Ryan Dempster gave up 9th inning homers to Jim Edmonds and Ryan Ludwick, but managed to get 2 outs. That’s when the fun began. Yadier Molina singled bringing the tying run to the plate and ending Dempster’s night. Russell Branyan and So Taguchi then hit back to back pinch hit singles off Bob Howry, loading the bases for Aaron Miles. Howry induced a 6-3 groundout and got credited with a save in the 5-3 win. Carlos Zambrano’s brilliant 8 innings earned him his 16th win. Adam Wainwright got the loss. The Cubs and Cards play a day night double header Saturday with game 1 at 12:10 CT and game 2 at 7:10. Ted Lilly and Sean Marshall will start for the Cubs.

-Mike