The Saturday night matchup between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs was supposed to be electric. What it turned out to be was…odd. The St. Louis Cardinals got a solid start out of Kyle Leahy, yet he wouldn’t make it out of the 5th inning and the Cardinals offense was nearly mute squandering what chances they had losing to the Chicago Cubs 6-1 Saturday night. It pains me to admit this, but Pete Crow-Armstrong had a lot to do with it.
Kyle Leahy gave the St. Louis Cardinals 4 1/3 innings allowing 6 hits with 4 strikeouts. He didn’t face any real drama until the top of the 2nd inning when Alex Bregman hit a ball that was initially called a home run, but the umpire review showed it ducked just to the left of the foul pole. Bregman did end up flaring a single to right field, but it didn’t lead to any runs.
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The St. Louis offense didn’t awaken until JJ Wetherholt singled to center in the bottom of the 4th inning. He advanced to 2nd on an excuse me groundout by Iván Herrera and then scored the first run of the game when Alec Burleson cracked a single to right field giving the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
That lead wouldn’t last long as the dreaded 5th inning rolled around which has been the nemesis of the St. Louis Cardinals pitching staff several times this season. Kyle Leahy would serve up a ball right down the middle that Pete Crow-Armstrong turned into a laser shot double to right. He then advanced to third on a Nico Hoerner groundout and then scored on a single by Michael Busch tying the game 1-1. Ryan Fernandez would come in to get the final outs of the 5th inning which he would do despite throwing a wild pitch in the process.
Ryan Fernandez would not be so fortunate in the top of the 6th inning. After making a good fielding play on a dribbler in front of the mound from Amaya, Ryan would fire the ball past Alec Burleson into right field. He would then walk Dansby Swanson before Manager Oli Marmol removed him for Justin Bruihl to face Pete Crow-Armstrong who he would hit with the first pitch to load the bases. Nico Hoerner then singled to right scoring Amaya giving the Cubs their first lead of game at 2-1. Michael Busch then hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field scoring Swanson upping the Cubs lead to 3-1.
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The Cardinals would threaten in the bottom of the 6th when Victor Scott II drew a walk on a full count that was confirmed by a failed Cubs ABS challenge. The Fox announcer then made a big deal about JJ Wetherholt having never hit into a double play in his Cardinals career so far. Spoiler Alert: JJ didn’t hit into one this time either as he instead smoked a single into center field. Unfortunately, Iván Herrera would fulfill the prophecy of the Fox dude and hit into a double play grounding a ball to Alex Bregman who would step on third base and fire the ball across the diamond to first to end the inning.
The low point of the night (or best moment ever if you’re somehow a Cubs person) was Pete Crow-Armstrong responding to the “Tarps Off” crowds chants of “OVERRATED” by crushing a home run off of Gordon Graceffo right into the middle of their seats making it 4-1 Cubs in the top of the 8th inning. Well played, Armstrong, but we still despise you.
The Chicago Cubs would make a late innings comeback by St. Louis less likely as Ian Happ doubled to start the top of the 9th inning. Suzuki would then reach on an error from Nolan Gorman. After Ballesteros grounded out, Amaya would be given first base on catcher’s interference by Jimmy Crook. Matt Pushard did not help himself as he bounced a ball off of the backstop scoring Happ from third and making it 5-1 Cubs. Pushard would follow that up with a walk to Dansby Swanson and then…wait for it…another hit by Pete Crow-Armstrong who singled in Suzuki giving Chicago all the runs they’d need as it was 6-1. Believe it or not, it could have been worse. Masyn Winn made an incredible play on a ground ball up the middle that ricocheted off of JJ Wetherholt as he stepped on second and used his rifle arm on a throw to first for a double play.
To add insult to injury, the Cardinals made ridiculous decisions in the bottom of the 9th inning. Wait, there was just one ridiculous decision and it was made by Ivan Herrera. JJ Wetherholt led off the inning with a single. He was one of the few bright spots as JJ went 3 for 4 on the night. Ivan would reach on a fielder’s choice narrowly avoiding hitting into a double play, but would try to advance to third base on a single by Alec Burleson, but would be thrown out trying. Never make the first or second out of an inning at third base they say (for a good reason). Jordan Walker would make the last out of the game driving a ball deep into the left-center field gap, but it was caught by (you guessed it) Pete Crow-Armstrong.
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The St. Louis Cardinals will try to rebound and win the series Sunday night when Matthew Liberatore takes the mound for another national broadcast. Jordan Wicks will get the start for the Chicago Cubs. First pitch is set for 6:20pm central time as the game will be watchable on NBC/Peacock.
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