LONDON—It started with the Star Spangled Banner and then God Save the King.
Then a local primary school boy yelled into a microphone in an English accent “play ball,” but it’s not clear that the Cardinals got the translation, as they were humbled 9–1 by their biggest rival, the Cubs.
It was billed as the Old Rivalry, New Ground, but it could’ve just as easily been called the Massacre at West Ham as the 54,662 fans in attendance at the London Stadium, the home of the English Premier League’s West Ham, saw the Chicago bring its West Side brand of baseball to London. Lefthander Justin Steele pitched brilliantly, and eight of the nine starters recorded a hit for a 14-hit barrage, mostly against Adam Wainwright.
Steele improved his record to 8–2 with a 2.62 ERA after a one-run performance that saw the 27-year-old take a no-hitter into the bottom of the fifth inning before Cardinals DH Jordan Walker ended his bid.
Steele would finish his outing in convincing fashion in the bottom of the sixth. After giving up his first run on a double by Tommy Edman that was followed up by a single by Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado singled with first and second and no outs.
A visit to the mound by Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy seemed to do the trick, as Steele struck out the side.
“I really thought Steely obviously set the tone early continue to do what he does and just put up zeros consistently,” Cubs manager David Ross said after the team continued its streak to 11 wins in the last 13 games.
On the offensive side, Ian Happ continued to show his comfort level at the plate. He blasted two home runs, the first in the top of the second to center, and the second on a line shot in the third inning to give him seven home runs on the season.
Kin Cheung/AP
It continues a streak of hot hitting for Happ, who hit .308 as the Cubs swept the Pirates last week.
“It felt good, two strike situation just trying to put the bat on the ball kind of pitch I could handle,” Happ said of his first home run. “You know, that was that was pretty cool.”
Happ’s batting gloves, which he was involved in designing, are off to Cooperstown after his two-dinger performance on Saturday.
“I think if there’s ever a time that the Hall of Fame asked for anything, you’ve done something pretty cool,” Happ said. “And to have those moments that that’s one of the most special parts of what we get to do.”
For the Cardinals, nothing went right. Manager Oliver Marmol described Wainwright’s performance as “a bad day”.
The most firepower coming from the first base side of the diamond was a caricature of Winston Churchill beating his counterpart dressed as King Henry VIII in a between-innings race. St. Louis sits 31–45, 10 games back of the first-place Reds. The Cards are just hoping for a split at they run Matthew Liberatore (1–2, 6.12 ERA) out on Sunday.
“We want to take both of these, dropped the first one,” Marmol said. “We’ve got to move on to tomorrow.”
For the Cubs, the last time they were at .500 was on May 12, but they have a chance to get back there with a win Sunday with Marcus Stroman on the mound.
The righty is coming off a seven-inning shutout performance in Pittsburgh that lowered his ERA to 2.28 for the season, the best on a resurgent Cubs team.
“You got to come out and the see the Stro show it’s gonna be fun,” Ross said on why fans should make the trip to East London tomorrow. “He's been our MVP of our team; I would say so. But if the fans want entertainment, I definitely show up tomorrow. They're gonna get a good show.”
