Saturday’s Game Report: Cardinals 6, Cubs 0
By Rob Rains
The Cardinals, who have been starving for any kind of offense this season, gorged themselves in the fifth inning on Saturday night.
In the span of seven batters, they hit three homers, providing more than enough runs in support of Kwang Hyun Kim, who had his second consecutive scoreless start to defeat the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Paul Goldschmidt led off the fifth with a blast onto Waveland Avenue, Tommy Edman hit a pinch-hit two-run homer and Paul DeJong added his second homer in as many games, another two-run shot, to cap the five-run inning.
It was the first three-homer game for the Cardinals since June 9.
Kim worked six scoreless innings after not allowing a run over seven innings in his previous start in San Francisco.
Here is how Saturday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: Matt Carpenter put the Cardinals ahead with a two-out RBI single in the first inning following a pair of walks … Following Goldschmidt’s homer, Tyler O’Neill reached on an infield single and scored on Edman’s second career pinch-hit homer when he hit for Carpenter after a pitching change. Harrison Bader singled with two outs in advance of DeJong’s homer … Goldschmidt officially reached base four times with two hits and two walks, but also reached on a throwing error in his last at-bat … Bader and DeJong also each had two of the Cardinals’ 11 hits.
On the mound: Kim scattered five hits and issued only one walk over his six innings, recording seven strikeouts. He was helped out by inning-ending double plays in each of the first two innings … The bullpen completed the shutout with three scoreless innings; Genesis Cabrera pitched around a leadoff double in the seventh, Giovanny Gallegos worked a 1-2-3 eighth and John Gant issued a leadoff walk in the ninth before getting the final three outs.
Key stat: This was the first time this season the Cardinals hit three home runs in an inning. It was the first three-homer inning at Wrigley Field since Aug. 18, 2006 when they did it as part of a six home run game.
Worth noting: A few hours after being named to the NL All-Star team as the replacement for the injured Buster Posey of the Giants, Yadier Molina said he had turned down the invitation. Molina said he will go home to Puerto Rico to rest. He had a foot injury earlier this season which put him on the injured list. It would have been his 10th All-Star selection … Cardinals prospect Matthew Liberatore was named Saturday to start for the NL in the Futures Game in Denver. Nolan Gorman, Liberatore’s teammate at Memphis and his childhood friend, also will represent the Cardinals in the game.
Looking ahead: The Cardinals will close out the pre-All Star break portion of the schedule on Sunday with Adam Wainwright getting the start against the Cubs.
Follow Rob Rains on Twitter @RobRains
