Cubs Maul Cardinals at Busch
THE CARDINAL CHRONICLE
Cubs Maul Cardinals at Busch
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur
There is no soft way to write this one.
The St. Louis Cardinals were beaten early, beaten often, and beaten badly Tuesday night at Busch Stadium.
The Chicago Cubs routed the Cardinals, 10-2, jumping on Michael McGreevy in the first two innings and turning the second game of the four-game series into a one-sided affair before St. Louis ever had much of a chance to respond.
For the Cardinals, this was not simply a loss.
This was another ugly reminder of where things stand.
The Cubs came into Busch Stadium needing to keep pressure on in the National League Central and Wild Card picture. The Cardinals came in needing to prove they could still fight back in a series that matters.
Only one team looked ready for that assignment.
Chicago scored two runs in the first inning, five more in the second, and never looked back.
McGreevy did not have it from the start.
The trouble began quickly when Seiya Suzuki and Alex Bregman reached ahead of Ian Happ, who delivered a two-run double to right field. Just like that, the Cubs led 2-0 before the Cardinals had taken a swing.
That was only the beginning.
In the second inning, the game came apart completely.
Michael Conforto reached, Carson Kelly followed, and Pete Crow-Armstrong lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to make it 3-0. Suzuki then doubled to left, scoring Kelly and pushing the Cubs’ lead to 4-0.
Michael Busch followed with an RBI single to right, making it 5-0.
The Cardinals still could not stop the inning.
After Bregman and Happ kept the pressure on, Nico Hoerner came through with a two-run single to right field, scoring Busch and Bregman and stretching the Chicago lead to 7-0.
By then, the night was already buried.
McGreevy’s final line told the story: 1.2 innings, eight hits, seven earned runs, two walks and two strikeouts. He threw 63 pitches, 40 for strikes, but the Cubs squared him up all over the field.
For a pitcher who has been one of the more reliable stories in the Cardinals’ rotation this season, this was a hard crash back to earth.
Gordon Graceffo came on in relief and did what he could to get the Cardinals through the middle portion of the game. He gave St. Louis 2.1 innings, allowing one run while trying to keep the bullpen from being completely emptied with two more games still left in the series.
That was about the only thing resembling damage control.
The Cardinals’ offense, meanwhile, had very little answer for Colin Rea.
St. Louis did not score until the fourth inning, when Nathan Church lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to bring home the Cardinals’ first run. It cut the deficit to 7-1, but it never felt like the beginning of a comeback.
It felt more like a small interruption in a game Chicago already controlled.
The Cubs added another run in the fifth when Pedro Ramírez delivered an RBI infield single off Justin Bruihl, making it 8-1. Bruihl did settle things down from there, working two innings without further damage, but the Cardinals were still nowhere close.
Peter Strzelecki took over later and gave up an RBI single to Suzuki in the eighth, pushing the Cubs’ lead to 9-1. In the ninth, Carson Kelly added another RBI single, making it 10-1.
The Cardinals added their final run in the bottom of the ninth on Masyn Winn’s RBI double, but by then the game had long since been decided.
Chicago had already done its work.
The Cubs finished with 10 runs and 17 hits, attacking early counts, finding holes, driving the ball to all fields, and making the Cardinals pay for nearly every mistake. Suzuki, Happ, Busch, Hoerner and Kelly were all part of an offense that kept traffic on the bases from the start.
The Cardinals had moments, but not many. Church’s sacrifice fly and Winn’s late double accounted for the scoring. There were a few scattered baserunners, but nothing sustained, nothing forceful, and nothing that put any real pressure on Chicago.
That is the part that should bother the Cardinals as much as the pitching line.
When a team falls behind 7-0, the offense has to show some kind of fight. It does not have to erase the whole deficit in one inning, but it has to make the other club work. It has to stretch at-bats, make pitchers uncomfortable, and at least give the dugout a reason to believe the night is not over.
The Cardinals never did enough of that.
The Cubs took the opener Monday, 7-3.
They took Tuesday’s game, 10-2.
Through two games of this four-game series, Chicago has looked sharper, deeper, more aggressive, and more prepared. The Cardinals have looked like a team losing ground at the worst possible time.
That is the bigger concern.
Every team has bad nights. Every starter gets knocked around eventually. Every club has a game where the score gets crooked early and the rest of the night becomes survival.
But this was not an isolated stumble.
This came after the Cardinals let a 7-0 lead disappear in Arizona. It came after they dropped a winnable extra-inning game to Cincinnati. It came after Monday’s loss to the Cubs, when Chicago outplayed them from start to finish.
Tuesday night only added to the pile.
And with the trade deadline approaching, these games carry more weight than a normal late-July loss. The Cardinals are not playing in a vacuum. They are being evaluated by their front office, by the standings, and by the teams around them.
If they want to be treated like a club worth supporting at the deadline, they have to start playing like one.
Right now, that argument is getting harder to make.
The Cardinals still have two games left in this series. That is the only good news. Baseball gives teams another day, another starter, another chance to change the tone.
But the tone is bad right now.
The Cubs have taken the first two games at Busch Stadium.
The Cardinals have been outplayed in nearly every phase.
And Tuesday night was as ugly as it gets.
Cubs 10, Cardinals 2.
The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports & MiLB Today
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Photo Credit: Ian Happ, Chicago Cubs | MLB