CHICAGO — The win that put these Cardinals on the brink of history the Swifties did not reach and Whiteyball never matched may have come despite a significant loss.
The hard-charging Cardinals won their 13th consecutive game by holding fast to a shrinking lead and downing the Cubs, 8-5, in Game 1 of a doubleheader Friday at Wrigley Field. The Cardinals can match the club record set in 1935 for consecutive victories with a win in the nightcap. A rousing victory that included the 30th home runs of the season from Paul Goldschmidt and Tyler O’Neill took a frightening turn in the sixth for shortstop Edmundo Sosa.
Sosa was struck on the right hand by a fastball from Cubs reliever Tommy Nance.
He wheeled away from the plate, cradled his right hand in his left hand, and as a trainer came out to meet him, Sosa dashed past the trainer and straight into the Cardinals dugout. That revealed his feel for the severity of the injury. He presumably rushed to the clubhouse from there.
Sosa had X-rays at Wrigley Field and met with the Cubs' team physician on site. After the game, manager Mike Shildt said the initial scans were encouraging and did not reveal any fracture. He will have to be re-evaluated in the coming 24 hours.
Paul DeJong, who Sosa replaced as the team’s everyday shortstop with his remarkable second half, took over the position for the remainder of Game 1.
The hit batter started the Cardinals’ two-run rally that opened up an 8-0 lead by the end of the top of the sixth.
Goldschmidt had driven in three of those eight runs.
A day after hitting two homers to rally the Cardinals from a five-run deficit in Milwaukee, Goldschmidt started the Cardinals’ scoring with a two-run homer in the third inning. He joined Nolan Arenado as the two Cardinals with at least 30 homers. Two’s company for about two innings. That’s when a third Cardinal cleared the crowd to join them. O’Neill’s two-run homer in the fifth inning landed somewhere beyond the left-field bleachers — an estimated 454 feet away from home plate.
Already the first Cardinals’ trio to have at least seven homers each in September, O’Neill, Goldschmidt, and Arenado are also the first threesome in the Cardinals’ lineup with at least 30 homers since 2004, when Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds, and Scott Rolen powered a 100-win team.
That earned them the nickname MV3.
With the addition of Jose Rondon’s two-run homer to O’Neill’s and Goldschmidt’s, the Cardinals carried that eight-run lead into the bottom of the sixth. Only then did they start to squander it. The Cubs rallied for five runs with two outs and sent nine batters to the plate, seven after reliever Alex Reyes had struck out the first two batters of the inning. Pinch-hitters did the damage. Sergio Alcantara came off the bench to hit a two-run homer into the basket in center field. When the next two Cubs also reached base, Reyes was lifted for fireman T. J. McFarland. Cubs manager David Ross countered with a right-handed pinch hitter.
McFarland got the line drive to center field that might have ended the inning — except Harrison Bader ran in on the ball and it carried over his head with the wind blowing out.
Austin Romine’s pinch-hit double to dead center scored two runs, and he came around on another double off McFarland to cut the Cardinals’ lead down to three runs.
O’Neill’s homer provided the heft of the difference.
Closer Giovanny Gallegos made sure it was enough with a scoreless seventh to secure his 13th save of the season.
Before the Cardinals unloaded on Steele and onto Waveland Avenue, they stuck with starter J.A. Happ to wriggle free on the game’s turning point.
The veteran lefty had a two-run lead to protect when he invited trouble by walking two batters around a one-out single. The Cubs loaded the bases and had two cracks at coming up with at least one run and possibly a tie game, all with just one out. A meeting on the mound ended with Happ still atop it. The lefty promptly tested the bottom of the Cubs’ order with fastballs and struck out the next two batters. He got David Bote with a 92.9-mph fastball, and then finished off the inning by getting outfielder Travce Thompson to whiff on a 92.3-mph fastball.
The Cubs stranded all three runners.
The Cardinals ran away with the rout from there.
The escape did add to Happ’s pitch count and bring the Cardinals’ bullpen into play before Happ was eligible for the win. Despite the doubleheader games being trimmed to seven innings, the rules to qualify for a win have not been. A starter must still pitch at least five innings and leave with the lead to receive a win. Happ allowed only two hits and pitched four scoreless innings on 74 pitches, but by not completing the fifth he left the win out there for a reliever to grab. With the Cubs’ uprising, one did by default.
