Well, at least the Cubs scored some runs.
Unfortunately, they also blew two leads and Mark Leiter Jr., who had been nearly lights-out all season, got hit hard in a four-run St. Louis eighth inning, giving the Cardinals a 7-6 win over the Cubs. It’s the first time in 2024 the Cubs have lost three in a row, and the loss also drops them to 3½ games out of first place, the first time this year’s Cubs have been more than 2½ games out of the top spot in the NL Central.
Jameson Taillon and Miles Mikolas matched zeroes for the first two innings, then the Cardinals put a pair of runs across in the bottom of the third.
The Cubs, though, got those right back and also the lead in the fourth, and all of those with two out. Mike Tauchman led off with a single, and two outs later stole second. That was followed by Christopher Morel drawing a walk.
So it’s 3-2 Cubs. The Cardinals tied the game in the bottom of the sixth when Taillon couldn’t quite get the third out he needed for six full innings. A double by Masyn Winn tied the game. Luke Little finished off the inning with a strikeout.
The Cubs took the lead back in the top of the seventh. Michael Busch reached on an error by Paul Goldschmidt that was reviewed and ruled “call confirmed”
The Cubs now have a 4-3 lead and Little and Tyson Miller kept the Cardinals scoreless in the bottom of the seventh.
With the score still 4-3, Mark Leiter Jr. was summoned to throw the bottom of the eighth. He’s been so reliable this year but on this night… nope. A pair of singles was followed by a pair of outs. Then the Cardinals sent up Matt Carpenter to pinch hit. I swear, it feels like that guy is about 75 years old and hits about .600 against the Cubs, though neither one of those things is actually true.
The play was reviewed, but you can see that Miguel Amaya didn’t set up correctly for the tag. The throw beat Alec Burleson and a better setup would have resulted in the third out of the inning with no runs scoring.
Instead, the game was tied and Leiter then gave up a two-run single. Porter Hodge relieved Leiter, threw a wild pitch and then allowed a run-scoring triple to Lars Nootbaar, with Leiter charged with all four runs in the inning.
The play was reviewed, but you can see that Miguel Amaya didn’t set up correctly for the tag. The throw beat Alec Burleson and a better setup would have resulted in the third out of the inning with no runs scoring.
The Cubs would not give up, though, in the ninth. Dansby Swanson and Nick Madrigal led off with singles, bringing the tying run to the plate, pinch-hitter Ian Happ. Happ flied out with Swanson taking third.
That ball didn’t get far enough away from Ivan Herrera for Suzuki to do that. I realize most coaches and managers preach aggressiveness on the bases but… this was not smart. The next two Cubs singled, which would have resulted in at least one run.
And while the Cubs did score six runs — their most since scoring seven against the Braves May 15 — they did not hit a home run for the sixth straight game. It’s the team’s longest homerless streak since June 23-July 1, 2015, when they failed to go deep in eight straight games. You might recall that team had a first-year manager and struggled for a while before winning 97 games and getting to the NLCS.
I still believe this is a good team that will come out of this funk and start to play better. Starting tonight would be a good time to do that. Javier Assad will start for the Cubs in the finale of this rain-shortened two-game set. Sonny Gray will go for St. Louis. Game time is 6:10 p.m. CT and this game is ESPN’s featured Sunday Night Baseball contest.