Cardinals Come Up Short as Cubs Salvage Series Finale

The Cardinal Chronicle
Cardinals Come Up Short as Cubs Salvage Series Finale
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

The St. Louis Cardinals still left Chicago with the series.

They did not leave with the sweep.

After hammering the Cubs 17-1 on Friday and shutting them out 3-0 on Saturday, the Cardinals had a chance Sunday afternoon to finish the weekend with a three-game sweep at Wrigley Field. Instead, Chicago answered late, taking advantage of a rough sixth inning and two costly St. Louis errors to beat the Cardinals, 6-4, in the series finale.

It was a missed opportunity.

Not a disastrous weekend.

But a missed opportunity all the same.

The Cardinals had put themselves in position to do something loud inside the division. They had dominated the first two games of the series, outscoring Chicago 20-1, and they had the Cubs searching for answers. Then Jordan Walker delivered the swing that looked like it might carry St. Louis to another win.

For a few minutes, it felt like the Cardinals were about to steal the finale too.

Walker’s three-run homer in the sixth inning turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead. It was his 20th home run of the season, and it continued a strong road swing for a player who was named an All-Star this weekend and continues to look more and more like a centerpiece bat in the Cardinals’ lineup.

But the lead did not last.

Chicago scored four times in the bottom of the sixth, flipping the game back in the Cubs’ direction and turning what could have been a sweep into a salvage win for the home club.

That was the game.

The Cubs struck first against Matthew Liberatore in the bottom of the first. Pete Crow-Armstrong reached on an infield single, stole second, and came home when Alex Bregman doubled to right-center field. After Seiya Suzuki struck out, Carson Kelly walked and Michael Busch was hit by a pitch, loading the bases with one out.

Nico Hoerner then lifted a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Bregman and giving Chicago a 2-0 lead.

Liberatore avoided further damage, but the early inning forced the Cardinals to chase from the start.

St. Louis had a chance to answer in the second. Walker opened the inning with a walk, but was caught stealing during Lars Nootbaar’s at-bat. Masyn Winn followed with an infield single, Nathan Church singled to right, and José Fermín walked to load the bases.

That brought Bryan Torres to the plate with a chance to change the inning.

He popped out to shortstop.

The Cardinals had traffic, but no run.

That mattered later.

Javier Assad kept St. Louis quiet through 4 2/3 innings. The Cardinals made him work at times, but they could not break through. Herrera struck out three times. Nootbaar went hitless. The bottom of the order created a chance in the second, but the Cardinals did not finish it.

For five innings, the Cubs held a 2-0 lead.

Then Walker changed the game.

JJ Wetherholt singled to center to open the sixth. Iván Herrera struck out, but Alec Burleson singled to right, putting two aboard. Chicago went to Tyler Ferguson, and Walker wasted no time making the Cubs pay.

He drove a three-run home run to left-center field, giving the Cardinals a 3-2 lead.

That was the swing St. Louis needed.

It was also another reminder of what Walker has become this season. His power is no longer theoretical. His production is no longer just about flashes. On Sunday, he put the Cardinals ahead with one swing and later drove in their fourth run with a sacrifice fly.

Walker accounted for every Cardinals run.

That should have been enough to give St. Louis a real chance.

Instead, the bottom of the sixth got away.

Liberatore started the inning by walking Kelly and allowing a single to Busch. That ended his afternoon. Matt Svanson entered with two runners aboard and no outs, trying to protect a one-run lead.

Hoerner singled to right, scoring Kelly and tying the game 3-3.

The inning kept unraveling from there.

Ian Happ popped out, but Dansby Swanson reached on a fielder’s choice that brought home Busch. On the play, Fermín made a throwing error, allowing Hoerner to reach third and Swanson to move into scoring position. The Cubs had the lead back, 4-3.

Then came the play that created the separation.

Pedro Ramírez lifted a sacrifice fly to right field. Hoerner scored from third, and Swanson also came around after Walker’s throw got away for another Cardinals error. What could have been a manageable inning had turned into a four-run swing.

Chicago led 6-3.

The Cardinals had taken the lead in the top half.

They gave it right back in the bottom half.

That is the kind of inning that keeps a sweep from happening.

The frustrating part is that Liberatore had settled in after the first. He worked clean innings in the third and fifth and used a double play to erase a single in the fourth. His final line was not terrible — five innings, four hits, four runs, three earned, two walks and three strikeouts — but the sixth inning changed the shape of the outing.

He left with trouble on the bases.

The bullpen and defense could not clean it up.

Svanson was charged with two unearned runs over 1 2/3 innings. Ryan Fernandez came in to finish the seventh and struck out Happ with two aboard, keeping the Cardinals within reach.

St. Louis made one final push in the eighth.

Wetherholt singled to right-center. Herrera grounded out, moving him to second. Burleson singled to right, putting runners at the corners. Walker then lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Wetherholt and cutting the deficit to 6-4.

That gave Walker four RBIs on the day.

It also gave the Cardinals one more chance to make it interesting.

But Nootbaar grounded out to second, and that was as close as St. Louis would get.

The Cardinals finished with four runs on seven hits. Wetherholt went 2-for-4 and scored twice. Burleson went 2-for-4 and scored a run. Walker went 1-for-2 with a homer, a sacrifice fly, a walk and four RBIs. Winn and Church each added a hit.

But outside of Walker, the lineup did not produce enough damage.

That was the difference.

Chicago also had seven hits, but the Cubs turned their chances into bigger innings. Crow-Armstrong had two hits and stole two bases. Bregman drove in the first run with a double. Hoerner drove in two. Kelly reached three times. Busch reached twice. Ramírez’s sacrifice fly became one of the biggest plays of the game because of the error that followed.

The Cubs did not overwhelm the Cardinals.

They took advantage of the inning St. Louis gave them.

That is what made the loss sting.

The Cardinals had a chance to sweep Chicago at Wrigley Field. They had a chance to extend the momentum after winning three straight road games, including Thursday’s comeback win in Atlanta and the first two games of this series. They had a chance to put another statement inside the National League Central race.

Instead, they leave with two out of three.

That is still a good road series.

It just could have been better.

There is no reason to overreact to one loss after the Cardinals outscored the Cubs 24-7 over the weekend. They came into Wrigley and took the series. They won one game with a 17-run avalanche. They won another with pitching and a shutout. They showed two very different ways to win against a division rival on the road.

That matters.

But Sunday also showed why small details still matter.

A missed bases-loaded chance in the second. A walk to start the sixth. A ground ball that turned into a run and an error. A sacrifice fly that turned into two runs because of another throwing mistake. Those are the kinds of plays that change a game, especially when a team is trying to finish off a sweep.

The Cardinals did plenty right this weekend.

They did not do enough right Sunday.

Walker’s bat kept them in it. Wetherholt and Burleson set the table. The Cardinals had the lead in the sixth.

But the Cubs answered, the Cardinals made mistakes, and the sweep slipped away.

St. Louis still won the series.

Chicago salvaged the finale.

Now the Cardinals head forward knowing the weekend was good — but Sunday was one that got away.

The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports & MiLB Today
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Photo Credit: Jordan Walker, St. Louis Cardinals | MLB