Friday’s Game Report: Cubs 11, Cardinals 3
By Rob Rains
In his first 188 career starts for the Cardinals Miles Mikolas never had a game like he pitched on Friday in Chicago.
Then again, no pitcher in the 130-plus year history of the Cardinals franchise ever did what Mikolas did either.
Mikolas became the first pitcher in team history to allow six home runs in a game, all to the first 15 batters he faced, as the Cubs enjoyed the Fourth of July with plenty of firepower in bombing the Cardinals in the opener of the weekend series at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs added two more home runs off John King to set their franchise record with eight home runs in a game at the same time the Cardinals were setting their record for most home runs allowed in a game.
Michael Busch hit three of the Cubs homers, two off of Mikolas, while Pete Crow-Armstrong hit two, both off of Mikolas. The Cubs hit back-to-back homers in the first and second innings, then hit two more in the third with a single in between the two blasts.
It was the latest in a string of poor starts for Mikolas. In his last seven games he is 0-4 with a 7.75 ERA, allowing 53 hits in 36 innings, including 12 home runs.
The only solace for the Cardinals was that they did finally break their scoreless streak after 31 empty innings on a home run from Brendan Donovan in the fourth inning but they still lost their fourth game in a row.
Here is how Friday’s game broke down:
At the plate: Donovan’s homer was the lone hit for the Cardinals through the first eight innings, with their other three baserunners coming on two walks and a Chicago error … The Cubs brought in infielder Jon Berti to pitch the ninth inning leading 11-1 and he gave up an RBI single to Lars Nootbaar and issued a bases-loaded walk to Pedro Pages that produced the other Cardinals’ run … The Cardinals had only one at-bat with a runner in scoring position in the first eight innings … Willson Contreras and Nolan Arenado were both back in the Cardinals lineup but combined to go 0-of-6.
On the mound: Mikolas allowed 10 hits but was left in the game to get through six innings to hopefully help out the bullpen for the next two games of the series. After the home run barrage he allowed only two more hits, including an RBI single from Busch, who had five RBIs in the game … The Cubs’ third through seventh-place hitters were a combined 12-of-20, including the eight home runs.
Key stat: Busch became the third Cub in history to hit three home runs in a game against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field, and ironically, all three came on July 4. The others were done by Moises Alou in 2003 and by Hank Leiber in 1939.
Worth noting: Only two pitchers in Cardinals history had allowed five home runs in a game, Harvey Haddix in 1954 and Scott Terry in 1989, against the Cubs in St. Louis … The Cardinals twice previously had allowed seven homers in a game, once in 2003 and also in 1947, both times against the Pirates … The six home runs allowed by Mikolas tied the modern-day MLB record, only the sixth time that has happened since 1941 … Crow-Armstrong and Busch became the first two Cubs to both have four hits in a game against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field since Ivan DeJesus and Barry Foote did it on April 22, 1980.
Up next: Matthew Liberatore will get the start in the second game of the series on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 1:20 p.m.
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