You could sense that the St. Louis Cardinals entered Wrigley Field Friday afternoon feeling the momentum of their inspiring series-winning comeback victory in Atlanta on Thursday. The Cardinals took the Cubs to Church in a Nathan kind of way to win Friday’s contest in Chicago.
St. Louis did not wait long before they jumped all over Chicago Cubs starter David Peterson. They literally hit him hard in the top of the 2nd inning as José Fermín hit a two-out double and Blaze Jordan lined a ball off of Peterson’s
right triceps. He was fortunately not injured and stayed in the game. On the 8th pitch of his at-bat, Nathan Church did not miss a 79 mph curveball that didn’t curve enough with a 3-run homer that soared 384 feet into the right field stands.
The bottom of the 2nd inning would include a defensive highlight that shows just how far Jordan Walker has come both offensively and with the glove. Sliding catches by our right fielder for the win!
The Cardinals would continue to add to their lead in the top of the 3rd inning when Iván Herrera singled followed by a Jordan Walker double. Nelson Velázquez lifted a sacrifice fly to center making it 4-0 St. Louis. The Cardinals weren’t done, either. After Alec Burleson grounded out to first, Masyn Winn singled which scored Walker upping the St. Louis lead to 5-0 then José Fermín launched a shot into the right-center field gap scoring Winn all the way from first making it a commanding 6-0 lead for the Cardinals.
The St. Louis words for the day were relentless and merciless. The Cardinals would continue to pile on the hapless Cubs in the top of the 4th inning when Iván Herrera , Jordan Walker and Nelson Velázquez drew two-out walks. Alec Burleson then walked to the plate and said “thank you for throwing a meatball 84 mph slider on the first pitch” lancing it into right field scoring Herrera and Walker giving St. Louis a remarkable 8-0 lead. But wait, there’s more. Masyn Winn decided to put an exclamation point on an already big lead as he lifted a 391 foot homer over the left field wall making it 11-0 Cardinals.
While the Cardinals offense was going ballistic, Andre Pallante was quietly keeping the Cubs from mounting much of a threat. Through the first 4 innings, all the Cubs had to show for their efforts were a couple of infield singles and a double from PC Armstrong who’s name I refuse to write out completely. Andre gave St. Louis the exact kind of start they needed after an exhausting bullpen game on Thursday. The bats made the headlines today, but Pallante deserves major kudos, too. By the time he was taken out of the game in the bottom of the 6th inning Andre’s line was an impressive 5 2/3 innings allowing just 5 hits, absolutely no Cubs runs with 2 strikeouts and just 1 measly walk. Just what the Cardinals bullpen needed.
It is with great pleasure that I let you know that the Cardinals did not stop at 11 runs. In the top of the 5th inning, Blaze Jordan led off with a single. Three batters later, Herrera singled to center and then Jordan Walker was hit by a pitch to load the bases. The Cubs then decided that they’d like to score on themselves by walking Velasquez giving St. Louis an even dozen runs. Alec Burleson and his bat then added to the delightful Cubs misery by ripping a single into right scoring 2 more and giving the Cardinals a football lead of 2 touchdowns and 2 extra points at 14-0.
The top of the 6th inning saw St. Louis load the bases AGAIN (and that’s not a complaint). With one out, Blaze Jordan collected his 3rd hit of the game which was a single to left which Nathan Church followed with a single of his own. JJ Wetherholt was hit by a pitch to load the bases which gave Iván Herrera the opportunity to add to his RBI total which he did with a ringing single to center scoring 2 more and giving the Cardinals a whopping 16-0 lead.
I have a life motto that there is no such thing as scoring too many runs when you’re playing the Cubs and Bryan Torres obviously agreed. Oli Marmol decided to give Masyn Winn the rest of the game off and Bryan honored that opportunity by crushing his own home run over the right field wall increasing the Cardinals obliteration of Chicago to 17-0.
The Cubs did end up getting a consolation run in the bottom of the 7th inning off of reliever Max Rajcic, but who cares. That reduced our lead to a nerve-racking 17-1 and yes, that’s sarcasm. Max did a fine job of eating innings in a blowout so the Cardinals bullpen will enter Saturday night’s national broadcast game fully-rested. Ryne Stanek, back from paternity leave after becoming a new dad (congrats, btw), took care of the Chicago Cubs in the bottom of the 9th.
The St. Louis Cardinals will continue a very enjoyable stay in the Windy City so far as they’ll do battle with the evil empire Chicago Cubs Saturday night. The Cardinals will send Kyle Leahy to the mound for a 4th of July national broadcast while the worst franchise in baseball Cubs give Shota Imanaga the ball. First pitch is set for 7:08 central time as this will be a TV broadcast handled by Fox.
