22 July, 2017
Even playing without third baseman Kris Bryant, who, Maddon said could miss this weekend's series with soreness in the finger he sprained during a head-first slide Wednesday, the Cubs appeared headed for their seventh straight victory.
As you might expect, it was a close affair between the two rivals most of the day. Unfortunately, the team was taken down by the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 11-4 to halt that win streak.
Willson Contreras hit a two-run homer for Chicago, and Ben Zobrist had three hits.
Cubs' catchers have 18 home runs, tops in NL.
During the all-star break, the Cubs addressed their glaring weakness by acquiring starting pitcher Jose Quintana from the Chicago White Sox. Jake Arrieta continued that trend today. He is 11-5 on the season with a lopsided 5.08 ERA and 1.49 WHIP.
July has been his best month by far as he came into the start with an ERA under two.
After Pedro Strop pitched a scoreless inning in relief, things got dicey as both Carl Edwards Jr. and Héctor Rondon failed to record outs in the 8th inning. Hector Rondon then walked Jedd Gyorko, tying it at 3, and DeJong followed with a drive into the ivy in right-center for a ground-rule double. Arrieta served up a solo homer in the second inning to Randal Grichuk and back-to-back doubles in the third, but the Cards didn't do anything else off of him.
Fowler had three hits for St. Louis, which was coming off a tough 3-2 loss to the New York Mets on Thursday.
Cardinals starter Carlos Martinez gave up 10 hits, but just two earned runs in six innings.
Yankees All-Star Luis Severino (5-4, 3.40) will take the mound to open a four-game series at Seattle.
OUR PREDICTION: The Cardinals have won four of Wainwright's last five road starts versus the Cubs, are 11-3 in his last 14 outings versus Chicago overall, and have won five straight games when their opponent starts a left-hander.
First pitch from Wrigley Field is scheduled for 3:05 pm C.T.
