CHICAGO — The Cardinals’ supporting players, who have helped amplify the offense this month, got thrust into the role of carrying it Wednesday at Wrigley Field.
What the Cardinals did not get, the Cubs did.
The bottom third of the Cubs’ lineup provided five RBIs and most of the run-scoring opportunities as the hosts ran away with a 7-1 victory. The Cardinals played most of the game without their twin MVP candidates. Nolan Arenado was ejected from the game in the third inning after arguing a check-swing call with the home-plate umpire. The Cardinals attempted to give Paul Goldschmidt a complete day off amidst four games in five days at Wrigley and a stretch of games without a break for another week.
After Arenado’s ejection, the left the lineup with Albert Pujols as its leader with the .277 average and 14 home runs, seven of which have come this month. Leadoff hitter Lars Nootbaar contributed the lone run with a solo homer in the fifth inning that chased Cubs right-hander Luke Farrell from his first big-league start of the year.
The Cardinals did not get the same offensive traction that the Cubs did. Twice in the first four innings, the Cardinals stranded runners in scoring position. They finished zero-for-six with runners in scoring position, and four of those at-bats came from the bottom of the lineup. That was where the Cubs generated their offense to take a 3-0 lead early and inflate to 5-1 by the time the Cardinals’ starter departed.
The Cubs struck for an early lead without much thunder, but enough traffic to eventually cause Miles Mikolas (10-10) problems. Two of the Cubs’ three runs in their second-inning rally scored on groundouts. A flip single and a walk was followed by Rafael Ortega’s nifty bunt down the third-base line to load the bases with no outs.
The next two outs brought in two runs.
Sandwiched in between was an RBI double from No. 8 hitter Nelson Velazquez.
The middle of the Cubs’ order got involved in the scoring in the eighth inning to widen the lead. Two runs off lefty Genesis Cabrera put the back end of the Cardinals’ lineup in position to do what the Cubs had.
Arenado fumes at K call, ejected early
The at-bat that started the verbal conflagration was important enough at the time to also explain why Arenado and the Cardinals felt his ejection was so heinous.
In the third inning, the Cardinals, scoreless at the time and already trailing, had two runners on base. Singles by Brendan Donovan and Tommy Edman put a potential rally in motion, and Arenado got a swing at being the tying run.
Though he contends he did not take that swing.
Arenado fouled off three pitches from Luke Farrell to get and keep the count full. On the eighth pitch of the at-bat, Farrell missed the outer edge of the plate with a 91.4-mph fastball. Arenado started his swing before checking it. The home-plate umpire, John Libka, disagreed. He signaled a strike out, and before his hand was down, Arenado had turned back to argue. The next gesture Libka made with his hand was swift – an ejection.
Libka smiled as Arenado protested.
As manager Oliver Marmol arrived, that was one of the first things he said to Libka, questioning how quickly he tossed one of the most prominent players in the game, one of the most important players to the Cardinals’ game.
The ejection was Arenado’s second of the season, his seventh of his career. His sudden absence after his second at-bat of the game brought Paul DeJong in at shortstop and No. 3. Edman, who started at short, moved to cover third for Arenado.
Error leads to Mikolas’ exit
The goal to get Goldschmidt a break put Donovan at first base and Albert Pujols at DH. Donovan’s versatility in the field would allow the Cardinals move players around, if needed, and not lose the designated hitter.
The inning that ended Mikolas’ evening hinged on a play not made at first.
A seventh inning that started with a popup went sideways with a home run for Mikolas. The right-hander got a ball toward first base that Donovan didn’t stop, sending it skipping into right field. The next batter grounded out, seemingly to give Mikolas an escape route with No. 9 hitter Zach McKinstry coming to the plate. McKinstry got a 1-1 slider that he lifted high and arcing toward the right-field foul pole. McKinstry’s second homer dropped into the seats, just above the right-field wall and tucked next to the foul pole. Any closer and it might have hit the 353-feet lettering.
That homer, on Mikolas’ 106th pitch, ended the right-handers evening. He allowed five runs on six hits and one walk. Three of the runs were earned because both of the run in McKinstry’s homer was not.
Dickerson finds intent, purpose and then playing time
A veteran outfielder with a Gold Glove Award to prove it, Dickerson admitted he struggled to adapt earlier this season to limited at-bats and infrequent playing time because of what he did in those at-bats. He a chance to reset during recovery from a leg injury, and what he learned was a way to make the most of the swings he did have.
At least let them go with more veracity.
Or, as his manager put it, “violence.”
The results have been a perk in his stats and a stretch of seven hits in eight consecutive at-bats that continued through the ninth inning Wednesday. Dickerson went four-for-five in the Cardinals’ win Tuesday night, and he followed that with a double, single, another single, and another single in his first four at-bats Wednesday. Including those four hits, Dickerson had batted .444 (20-for-45) since the All-Star break.
“I’ve tried to swing with intent and make sure I gebt off good swings – which is hard to do sometimes when you’re not in there,” the left-handed hitter said. “You just keep grinding away. Just knowing that I can still carry a team when I get the opportunity to just show what I can do – and be confident in that.”
Dickerson was stranded on base after each of his three hits in the first six innings Wednesday, and twice he took off his helmet and batting gloves in scoring position.
