Alex Bregman has had a rough year, as we all know, but we have seen signs recently that he’s coming out of it.
That happened big time Monday night in St. Louis. Bregman had his first four-hit game as a Cub, including a home run and two doubles, helping lead the team to a 7-3 win over the Cardinals in the opener of a four-game series, a game delayed nearly two hours by storms. Nico Hoerner also had four hits, including his first home run since April 21, 81 games ago.
After the rain was over, the Cubs
scored right away in the first inning, though it could have been more than one run. Pete Crow-Armstrong led off with a walk — but then got picked off [VIDEO].
That was really too bad, because both Seiya Suzuki and Alex Bregman followed with doubles. That would have scored a pair if not for the pickoff. Bregman’s double scored Suzuki [VIDEO].
A note on Suzuki’s hit from BCB’s JohnW53:
Seiya Suzuki’s first-inning double gave the Cubs the National League record for consecutive road games with a hit: 4,789.
The Pirates did it in 4,788 straight road games between May 14, 1955, and June 19, 2015.
The Cubs’ streak began Sept. 10, 1965, at San Francisco, the night after they were the victims of a perfect game by Sandy Koufax at Dodger Stadium.
The Yankees hold the MLB record, 5,367 games through Monday, since Sept. 20, 1958.
In the second, the Cubs kept it going against Matthew Liberatore. Nico Hoerner led off with a single. After Ian Happ struck out, Dansby Swanson singled Nico to second.
Hoerner scored on this single by Miguel Amaya [VIDEO].
José Fermin homered off David Peterson in the second to make it 2-1. Before that home run, Happ made this catch on a ball that looked like it fooled him [VIDEO].
On the broadcast, JD speculated the ball might have got into the lights. Happ made a nice recovery for the catch.
In the top of the third, the Cubs got that run back very quickly on a leadoff homer by Bregman in the third, his 11th [VIDEO].
In the fifth, Bregman led off with a single, his third hit of the game — his first three-hit game in more than three months, since April 22. Carson Kelly followed with a single, advancing Bregman to second. Michael Busch’s ground out advanced both runners, and then a single by Nico scored both to make it 5-1 Cubs [VIDEO].
While all this was going on, David Peterson was throwing quite well, through five innings, at least. The only run he allowed in that time was Fermin’s homer.
He got in trouble in the sixth. Jordan Walker led off with a walk, and then Ivan Herrera struck out on a play I don’t think I’ve seen before. The umpires ruled that Herrera had called for a second timeout after Peterson’s 3-2 pitch and that’s a violation, ruled strike three. In case you’re wondering how that’s scored:
Peterson recorded the second out, a ground ball that allowed Walker to take second. Gavin Hollowell relieved Peterson and allowed an RBI single to Masyn Winn, threw a wild pitch, then gave up an automatic double that bounced into the seats. If not for the wild pitch, the third Cardinals run doesn’t score. So it wasn’t a really good day for Hollowell, but the Cubs still led by two after six.
And overall I thought Peterson threw well, recording nine of his 16 outs on ground balls. One of the runs charged to him scored after he left the game. Here’s more on Peterson’s evening [VIDEO].
Ryan Rolison entered to throw the seventh and issued a walk in between a pair of strikeouts. Trent Thornton was then summoned to face the right-handed hitting Jordan Walker. One pitch, one out, but it was a fly ball to very deep left-center caught by Ian Happ. Earlier in the broadcast it was mentioned that Busch Stadium is the toughest park this year for home runs, and maybe that hit shows why — it looked like it might have been gone off the bat, but just died, a 391-foot out.
In the bottom of the eighth, Thornton gave up another long hit leading off the inning to Ivan Herrera. That one fell in for a hit — but Happ turned it into an out [VIDEO].
That’s just an outstanding defensive play by Happ. I keep telling you — he’s going to win a fifth Gold Glove this year.
The Cubs put some key insurance runs on the board in the ninth. Bregman’s fourth hit, a double, led off the inning. Two outs later, Nico went deep [VIDEO].
Back to Bregman — that was not only his first four-hit game as a Cub, it was his first since April 15, 2025 with the Red Sox. And his season OPS moved over .700 (at .705) for the first time since May 31. Good stuff, and for Nico, it was his second four-hit game since the All-Star break. The Cubs pounded out 14 hits on the evening and have had at least 11 hits in seven of their last nine games. More on the four-hit games by Bregman and Hoerner from John:
As noted by Al, this was Alex Bregman’s first game as a Cub with four hits. He had nine with the Astros and one, plus a five-hit game, with the Red Sox.
Bregman had had four three-hit games this season. The first three were April 7, 14 and 22; the fourth, July 12. He had a single, double and homer on April 22, in a 7-2 win over the Phillies — the only one of the earlier games at home.
Nico Hoerner had had one four-hit game this year before last night, on July 18 at home vs. the Twins. He had four in 2022-24.
Hoerner is tied with PCA for the team lead in games with three or more: eight. Michael Busch and Seiya Suzuki both have six. The Cubs have had 46 such games, by 11 different batters.
Jacob Webb, warming up for a possible save opportunity, pitched instead with a four-run lead in the ninth. He allowed a two-out double but finished up with no runs scoring. Here’s the final out [VIDEO].
Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame comments [VIDEO].
The Phillies lost to the Marlins Monday, so the Cubs’ lead for the first wild card spot increased to 3.5 games. And the Giants did the Cubs a solid by shutting out the Brewers 3-0, so the Cubs creep to within six games of first place in the NL Central.
The Cubs and Cardinals will meet again Tuesday evening in St. Louis. Colin Rea will start for the Cubs and Michael McGreevy goes for the Cardinals. Game time is 6:45 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network. The game’s also on TBS nationally (outside the Cubs and Cardinals market territories).
