Bellinger stays hot as Cubs defeat rival Cardinals |
CHICAGO - Although it does seem like the Chicago Cubs (46-51) will be sellers at the deadline again, a complete sell may not be necessary. For that to happen, the Cubs had to take care of business on Friday as they faced a must-win game against the St. Louis Cardinals (44-54) at Wrigley Field.
With Justin Steele on the mound and looking to bounce back from a horrendous first start after the break, Steele picked up where he left off in his last outing against the Cardinals when he dominated them across the pond. Steele pitched into the seventh inning and struck out nine Cardinal hitters. He did allow two runs, but a four-run third from the Cubs was the difference as the Cubs evened up the series 4-3. Opposing Steele was the former ace of the Cardinals Staff, Jack Flaherty, as he continued to endure some struggles. After an incredible 2019-20, the past three years have been a struggle as Flaherty has undergone several injuries that have affected his performance. For the most part, he was good, as he struck out six across six innings. However, the one rough inning did him in, as he allowed four runs on eight hits to take the loss. In his last start, Steele had an issue keeping the ball in the yard, which was extremely rare for him. He did a much better job at that on Friday despite the Cardinals opening the scoring in the second. Led by a trio of singles from Tyler O'Neill, Jordan Walker, and Paul DeJong, the Cardinals had the bases loaded and a chance to do some significant damage. Steele managed to wiggle out of that jam, but the Cardinals did manage to push a run across as Andrew Knizner picked up an RBI groundout for the early lead. Looking to even things up in their half of the second, the scalding-hot Cody Bellinger opened the bottom of the second with a double as part of his three-hit day. Bellinger would be stranded on the bases as the Cubs offense struggled again. That was until the third inning when the Cubs took the lead and did all their damage in the process. Miles Mastrobuoni did his best Patrick Wisdom impression and led the bottom of the third off with a rare homer to make things 1-1. Miguel Amaya followed that up with a single before racing home on another Mike Tauchman double as the Cubs took a 2-1 lead and never looked back. With two down and a runner still on base, Bellinger took it upon himself to deliver the big blow as his two-run shot capped off the Cub's four-run frame and put them in front 4-1. Those would be all the runs the Cubs would score, but it would go down as the game-winner for the Cubs. Over the next two innings, neither team was able to do much of anything offensively, although the Cubs did have another scoring chance in the fifth that they let go to waste. The same could be said for the Cardinals in the top of the sixth, with Willson Contreras picking up a single and Steele hitting a batter, but most importantly, he was able to pitch out of trouble with the Cubs still up three. After wasting a leadoff single from Christopher Morel in the bottom half of the sixth, the Cubs found themselves in another jam in the seventh as Steele was starting to show signs of fatigue. A one-out single from Jose Fermin gave the Cardinals a base runner, while a two-out walk extended the inning. That walk came from Julian Merryweather, who entered the game in relief of Steele and would then uncork a wild pitch to move the runners up 90 feet. That proved costly for the Cubs as Nolan Arrenado took a pitch up the middle a few pitches later and brought home a pair with an RBI single to make things 4-3. Merryweather would finish the seventh without any further damage, but he has been struggling in recent outings after being one of the Cubs best for over a month. Still trailing by one in the eighth, the Cardinals looked to take the lead as Mark Leiter Jr and Michael Fulmer struggled. Not only did Leiter Jr fail to finish the inning, but both combined to walk three hitters as the Cardinals had the bases loaded with one down. At that moment, the game changed as Fulmer got Alec Burleson to ground into an inning-ending double play as the Cubs ended the Cardinals rally still in front 4-3. Looking to lock things down in the ninth inning, David Ross called on Adbert Alzolay as he continues to be their answer for the ninth inning. For the most part, Alzolay was good, but he did have to work around a two-out error and a wild pitch as the tying run was at second and O'Neill at the plate. That didn't bother Alzolay as he got O'Neill to fly out to end the game as the Cubs picked up a crucial 4-3 win over their hated rivals.
