Báez Makes History at Wrigley

THE CARDINAL CHRONICLE
Báez Makes History at Wrigley
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

There are debuts.

There are dream debuts.

And then there is what Joshua Báez did Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field.

In his first Major League game, in one of baseball’s most historic ballparks, against the Chicago Cubs, wearing a St. Louis Cardinals uniform for the first time, Báez did something no player in Major League Baseball history had ever done.

He homered in his first three big-league at-bats.

Not one.

Not two.

Three.

Báez launched three home runs, drove in five runs, and powered the Cardinals to an 8-4 win over the Cubs in a game that instantly became one of the most unforgettable debuts in franchise history.

The Cardinals did not just get a win.

They got a jolt.

They got a moment.

They got a memory.

And maybe, just maybe, they got a glimpse of what their future can look like when elite raw power finally arrives in St. Louis and announces itself with authority.

Báez wasted no time.

In the top of the first inning, JJ Wetherholt got the Cardinals moving, and Alec Burleson brought him home with a fielder’s choice to give St. Louis a 1-0 lead. That alone was important after the Cardinals were shut out Friday afternoon.

Then Báez stepped to the plate for the first time in his Major League career.

Matthew Boyd threw him a fastball.

Báez turned it around.

The ball exploded off his bat and carried deep into the Wrigley Field bleachers in center field, a 449-foot blast on the first pitch he ever saw in the Major Leagues. Burleson scored ahead of him, and the Cardinals had a 3-0 lead.

That would have been enough for a story.

First Major League at-bat.

First Major League pitch.

First Major League home run.

At Wrigley Field.

Against the Cubs.

But Báez was just getting started.

The Cubs answered in the bottom of the second when Michael Conforto hit a three-run homer off Michael McGreevy, tying the game at 3-3. It could have taken the air out of the Cardinals’ dugout. It could have turned Báez’s first-inning blast into a nice moment inside another frustrating afternoon.

Instead, Báez came back up in the fourth and did it again.

This time, he drove a ball over the left-field wall for his second home run of the day and the second home run of his Major League career.

Two at-bats.

Two home runs.

Cardinals 4, Cubs 3.

By then, it was already historic territory. Only a handful of players had ever homered in their first two Major League at-bats. Even fewer had done it in the same game.

But the third at-bat is where the day moved from remarkable to ridiculous.

In the sixth inning, with Burleson aboard and the Cardinals clinging to a one-run lead, Báez came to the plate again against Boyd.

By this point, everyone in the ballpark knew what had already happened.

Boyd knew.

The Cubs knew.

The Cardinals knew.

The fans at Wrigley knew.

Báez knew.

And then he did it again.

Báez drove a two-run homer to right field, his third home run in his first three Major League at-bats, pushing the Cardinals’ lead to 6-3 and sending the afternoon into baseball history.

There are very few times in this game when everyone watching understands they have just seen something that has never happened before.

This was one of those times.

Joshua Báez, in his Major League debut, had hit three home runs in his first three at-bats.

The Cardinals’ dugout erupted. Wrigley Field, home of one of the Cardinals’ oldest rivals, had no choice but to acknowledge what had just happened. This was not just a Cardinals moment. This was a baseball moment.

Báez had arrived.

Loudly.

Blaze Jordan followed later in the sixth with a solo home run to left-center, stretching the Cardinals’ lead to 7-3. It was Walker’s 408-foot shot and another reminder that St. Louis still has young power capable of changing games quickly.

Alec Burleson added one more in the eighth, driving a solo home run to left-center to make it 8-3. Burleson had already driven in the first run of the game and scored twice ahead of Báez home runs. His late blast put the finishing touch on a Cardinals offense that needed this kind of afternoon badly.

The Cubs added a run late, but the game belonged to Báez and the Cardinals.

McGreevy deserves credit for keeping the game steady after Conforto’s three-run homer tied it in the second. He gave the Cardinals six innings, allowing three runs, none earned, on five hits. He walked two, struck out six, and kept the Cubs from turning the second inning into something worse.

That mattered.

Because once Báez gave the Cardinals the lead again, McGreevy held it.

The Cardinals’ bullpen carried it from there, and St. Louis walked out of Wrigley Field with an 8-4 win, evening the weekend series and giving the club the kind of spark that can travel beyond one afternoon.

Still, every part of this game will be remembered through Báez.

He was called up because the Cardinals needed impact. They needed power. They needed a reason for fans to look at this roster and see something more than frustration, missed chances and deadline questions.

He gave them all of that in one day.

The first swing was thunder.

The second was confirmation.

The third was history.

Báez came into the day after hammering Triple-A pitching for Memphis, where his power had already become one of the defining stories of the Cardinals’ farm system. The raw tools were never the question. The swing-and-miss had been part of the profile, but so was the kind of damage that very few players in the organization could match.

Saturday, there was no adjustment period.

There was no soft landing.

There was no easing into the Major Leagues.

There was only baseball’s biggest stage, one of the sport’s greatest rivalry settings, and a young hitter who looked like he had been waiting his whole life for the moment.

Maybe he had.

And maybe that is why it felt bigger than one game.

This was a reminder of what player development is supposed to produce. Not just prospects on lists. Not just names to debate. Not just theoretical tools and future value grades.

Impact.

The kind that changes a scoreboard.

The kind that changes a dugout.

The kind that changes the mood around a club.

The Cardinals have had too many games this season where the offense disappeared. Friday at Wrigley, they were shut out. Saturday, they hit five home runs and scored eight runs.

That is what Báez brought into the building.

A jolt.

A spark.

A lightning strike.

Whatever word fits, the Cardinals needed it.

And in his first Major League game, Joshua Báez delivered one of the greatest debuts the sport has ever seen.

Three home runs.

Five RBIs.

A Cardinals win at Wrigley Field.

History in red.

That’s a winner.

Key Storylines

Báez Makes MLB History

Joshua Báez became the first player in Major League Baseball history to hit three home runs in his MLB debut. He homered in each of his first three at-bats and drove in five runs.

First Pitch, First Homer

Báez’s first Major League swing came on the first pitch he saw from Matthew Boyd. He drove it 449 feet to center field for a two-run homer, giving the Cardinals a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

Second At-Bat, Same Result

After the Cubs tied the game in the second, Báez answered in the fourth with a solo home run to left field, putting St. Louis back in front, 4-3.

The Third One Made History

Báez’s third home run came in the sixth inning, a two-run shot to right field that gave the Cardinals a 6-3 lead and completed the first three-homer debut in MLB history.

Blaze Jordan followed the Báez show with a solo home run in the sixth inning. His 408-foot shot stretched the Cardinals’ lead and kept the pressure on Chicago.

Burleson Does His Part

Alec Burleson drove in the Cardinals’ first run, scored twice ahead of Báez home runs, and added a solo homer in the eighth. He was right in the middle of the offense all afternoon.

McGreevy Settles In

Michael McGreevy gave the Cardinals six innings and kept the Cubs quiet after Michael Conforto’s three-run homer tied the game in the second. He allowed three runs, none earned, and struck out six.

Five-Homer Afternoon

The Cardinals hit five home runs in the win: three from Báez, one from Jordan and one from Burleson. After being shut out Friday, the offense answered in a historic way.

Series Evened

The win evened the weekend series at Wrigley Field after the Cubs shut out the Cardinals in the opener. St. Louis now has a chance to take the series Sunday.

Bottom Line

Joshua Báez made history.

The Cardinals needed a spark, and the rookie gave them one of the greatest debuts Major League Baseball has ever seen.

Three home runs in his first three big-league at-bats.

Five RBIs.

A win at Wrigley Field.

Cardinals 8, Cubs 4.

That’s not just a winner.

That’s history.

The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports & MiLB Today
Preserving the Past, Promoting the Present, and Projecting the Future.

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Photo Credit: Joshua Báez, St. Louis Cardinals | MLB