Enhanced Box Score: Cubs 10, Cardinals 3
GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN, .500! WE HAVE MISSED YOU! By beating the Cardinals tonight and getting back to .500, this year’s team became just the third Cubs team EVER to get back to .500 after falling 10 games under. This team is just a little bit special. That’s not my opinion – it’s now just history.
Six wins in a row now for a Cubs team that desperately needed a streak like this to avoid a sell-off. These players are showing the front office something. Sure, the opponents are bad, but you still have to get the job done.
Speaking of bad opponents …
Thankfully, the Cardinals are such a disaster this year that they farted this one away with idiocy almost immediately. If you didn’t see the start of the game, Ian Happ accidentally hit Willson Contreras with his backswing, and Contreras had the leave the game (after the two hugged). Miles Mikolas responded by throwing at Happ TWICE (he sucks, so he missed the first time). He was ejected, his manager argued, and he was ejected, too. So the Cardinals had to bring in Dakota Hudson to try to quick fill in, and he allowed three runs to score. Good on the Cubs for taking advantage of the Cardinals being morons.
Justin Steele was outstanding tonight, especially when you consider the MUGGY conditions. Going six innings without too much drama is exactly how you want this series to begin. Bullpen remains in a good place for the rest of the series.
Speaking of the bullpen, how nasty did Daniel Palencia look tonight? I know there’s still going to be a lot of development and bumps along the way, but he flashed peak ability tonight, and it was 99+ mph with great life and an lol-good-luck 90 mph slider.
Wild that the only offense for the Cardinals came from the back-up catcher who was in the game only because Contreras had to leave. The Cardinals are really bad.
Huge games up and down the lineup for the Cubs, who so thoroughly clubbed the Cardinals that several of them got to take a rest in the later innings.
Full box score.
Source: bleachernation.com
