The St. Louis Cardinals stopped a late comeback effort from the Chicago Cubs for the second consecutive game. On Saturday night, a ninth-inning rally was quelled for a one-run victory, 7-6. Sunday night, the Cardinals bullpen stopped the Chicago Cubs just shy again, this time 4-3 after jumping out to a 4-0 lead.
Paul Goldschmidt carried the day for the Cardinals offense, hitting two home runs and driving in all four of the St. Louis runs. Both bombs came off Javier Assad, who suffered his first loss of the season. The Chicago Cubs tried to stage a comeback attempt behind one hitter of their own, with Ian Happ launching a pair of home runs, but came upon run short for the second straight game.
Gray Outpitches Assad
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Sonny Gray faced Javier Assad in this NL Central bout. Gray got the better end of this matchup, shutting out the Cubs while only giving up one hit and two walks in his five innings of work. Gray punched out eight Chicago hitters, mixing speed and movement effectively to minimize the threats posed by the division’s second-ranked team. Gray only threw 74 pitches on the day and left with a 4-0 lead, handing the ball over to four different relievers to finish the win.
Javier Assad continued to cool off in this start. In his first year as a full-time starter, Assad started out scorching hot, allowing fewer than two earned runs in all ten of his starts. His success started to taper off, and after letting Paul Goldschmidt hit two home runs on Sunday, this streak was officially broken.
Aside from the Goldschmidt long balls, Assad put six baserunners on, three on hits, and three on walks. The damage was limited by Assad’s ability to get clutch strikeouts when he needed to, setting down eight Redbirds in his five innings, just like his opponent Sonny Gray. Assad’s four runs allowed proved to be too much for the Cubs offense to overcome, and Assad took home his first loss of the season.
Individual Offensive Efforts Carry Rivals
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Sunday’s offensive output drastically differed from Saturday in this rivalry series. Sunday’s hitting for both teams came exclusively on home runs and by only one batter for each team. These teams came into the matchup in the bottom third of MLB in home runs, making Sunday’s results all the more surprising. Paul Goldschmidt hit his two home runs off Javier Assad and Ian Happ got his two homers off the St. Louis bullpen.
Paul Goldschmidt launched his sixth and seventh home runs of the year on Sunday, bucking the slow start he has opened up within 2024. In the bottom of the third, Goldschmidt broke the scoreless tie by connecting on a cutter that broke over the heart of the plate and driving in two. It was a similar story in the fifth inning, as Goldschmidt scooped a slider that broke over the plate at the bottom of the zone and put it over the left field wall.
Ian Happ didn’t start to do damage until Sonny Gray exited the ball game. Much like Goldschmidt, Happ’s Sunday performance was an aberration from his slow start to the season. Happ hit his third and fourth home runs of 2024, getting the Cubs goose egg off the scoreboard in the seventh inning with a two-run shot. Then to lead off the ninth inning, Happ turned around a 100 MPH fastball from Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley to bring the deficit down to one.
Looking Ahead for St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs
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The St. Louis Cardinals took the series over the Chicago Cubs with their Sunday victory. The 4-3 win concludes the second game of the season series between the NL Central rivals.
Friday’s game was called off due to rain, the most severe of the weather that plagued the weekend set. The game will be made up on Saturday, July 13 as part of a day-night doubleheader. The original scheduled game will be playing during the day with the make-up game played at night.
This series is the first meeting of the season between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals. The two clubs will meet eleven more times in 2024, and if the current standings are any indication, those games will impact the NL Central standings and the NL playoff picture.
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