ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals had been held to one run or none 12 times this season while ace right-hander Miles Mikolas had been on the mound.
Mikolas was masterful Sunday at Busch Stadium, throwing his curveball as low as 65 mph and his fastball in the low 90s. He allowed just two hits and one walk in his eight innings. But he had no runs of support until ...
Albert Pujols came to the plate as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning. Continuing his renaissance at age 42, Pujols smacked the second pitch he saw from Chicago Cubs left-hander Brandon Hughes for a two-run homer 429 feet into the left-field bleachers.
Pujols' 16th homer of the season was the 695th of his career. It scored Tommy Edman, who had doubled with one out ahead of him, and provided a 2-0 Cardinals win over the Cubs. The victory, saved by Ryan Helsley in a scoreless ninth, secured a series sweep for the Cardinals who are 24 games over .500 at 79-55.
Batting for Lars Nootball, Pujols jumped a 94 mph fastball on an 0-1 count for his second pinch homer of the season and seventh of his career. It also put him just one homer behind Alex Rodriguez for fourth place on the career home-run list.
A curtain call by the paid Busch Stadium crowd of 46,642 was demanded. And Pujols answered it, doffing his helmet.
Edman is golden — wherever
A Gold Glove winner at second base last year, Edman displayed similar skill at shortstop in the fourth inning. First, he dived to his left to spear Seiya Suzuki’s skimmer and throw out the fleet Cubs outfielder by a step. To end the inning, at shortstop, pulled over for hitter Ian Happ, he pivoted a double play started by third baseman Nolan Arenado.
Happ had made a sliding catch to rob Tyler O’Neill of an extra-base hit in the second inning.
Otherwise, the stars of the game were the starting pitchers — until Mr. Pujols came along. Mikolas allowed just a second-inning double by Franmil Reyes and a sixth-inning single by Christopher Morel through his eight scoreless innings. Cubs starter Marcus Stroman allowed two doubles and two singles in the first seven innings, but there was no damage done. He was helped by a sliding catch from Rafael Ortega to end the sixth inning.
Dickerson run continues
Corey Dickerson had one of the doubles, giving him 17 hits in 30 at-bats against the Cubs this season, including 10 in succession at one point, but was stranded in the second when O’Neill and Nolan Gorman struck out.
In the second, Dickerson, who had reached on an error and moved to third base on Gorman’s single, was cut down at the plate as he tried to come home in delayed fashion after Andrew Knizner tapped to third baseman Morel. First baseman Alfonso Rivas’s throw home nailed a sliding Dickerson at the plate.
