Sunday’s Game Report: Cubs 5, Cardinals 1
It was another lost weekend for the Cardinals in Chicago.
For the second time this season the Cardinals were swept by the Cubs at Wrigley Field. The 0-6 start to the season in Chicago is the worst by the Cardinals since they lost the first seven games there in 2006.
The problem Sunday night was too much Kyle Hendricks, again, as he limited the Cardinals to one run over seven innings.
Since 2016, Hendricks has gone 7-0 in 10 starts against the Cardinals and the Cubs have won all 10 of those games.
The loss came with insult too. Adam Wainwright had to leave the game in the fifth inning with a left hamstring strain and could be forced to miss his next start, according to manager Mike Shildt.
The Cardinals arrived in Chicago on Friday just 2 ½ games out of first place in the NL Central and left 5 ½ games back, with a 31-32 record for the season.
Here is how the game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals only run scored in the second. Marcell Ozuna beat out an infield hit, went to second on a throwing error by Kris Bryant and scored on a double by Kolten Wong … Wainwright doubled with two outs in the fifth, which might have been when he hurt his hamstring, and went to third on an infield hit by Matt Carpenter but the two were stranded when Paul DeJong grounded out … The Cardinals also had runners on first and third with no outs in the sixth but failed to score. Paul Goldschmidt led off the inning with a double, his first since May 9 and only his second in his last 139 at-bats dating back to April 26 … Ozuna had three of the Cardinals nine hits, all singles.
On the mound: The injury to Wainwright forced him out of the game after 4 1/3 innings. Still it was the longest outing by a Cardinals starter in the series after Miles Mikolas pitched four innings on Friday and Jack Flaherty 3 2/3 innings on Saturday … A leadoff walk from Wainwright led to the Cubs first run in the first and they added two more in the fifth before Wainwright left the game … Errors by Carpenter and Carlos Martinez, on a wild pickoff throw at first, led to an unearned run in the seventh and Carlos Gonzalez capped the Cubs scoring with a home run off Martinez in the eighth.
Key stat: Over the three games the Cardinals had just one hit with a runner scoring position and two outs, the infield single by Carpenter in the fifth inning that was a hit only because Hendricks was late covering first on Carpenter’s ground ball to first. They were a combined 0-of-8 in their other at-bats in the series with a runner on second or third and two outs.
Worth noting: The Cardinals have won only three of their last 16 games on the road … Before the game the Cardinals recalled Daniel Ponce de Leon from Memphis and optioned Ryan Helsley back to Triple A. It’s the sixth time Helsley has either been called up from Memphis or sent down since April 16 … Yadier Molina, who was able to attend game six of the Stanley Cup Final Sunday night at Enterprise Center because he is on the injured list, will join the Cardinals on Monday in Miami but it still likely be a few days before he is cleared to play. He has a strained tendon near the thumb on his right hand … The worst season ever for the Cardinals at Wrigley Field was in 1918, when they went 0-9 … The Cardinals don’t play in Chicago again until the middle of September.
Looking ahead: The 10-game road trip continues on Monday night with the first of three games against the Marlins in Miami. Michael Wacha is set to return to the rotation after his stint in the bullpen.
