St. Louis Cardinals humiliated in 17-5 loss to Chicago Cubs

There’s no easy way to say it but the St. Louis Cardinals were humiliated in a 17-5 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Monday night. If Sunday’s win over the Pittsburgh Pirates was supposed to start a winning streak for the Cardinals, it didn’t happen.
May 12, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals infielder Daniel Descalso (33) pitches to a Chicago Cubs batter during the ninth inning at Busch Stadium. Chicago defeated St. Louis 17-5. Image Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
For St. Louis Cardinals fans, Monday’s game was not a fun one to watch. When ESPN selected the game to air as a part of Monday Night Baseball, I don’t even think they foresaw what would transpire over the nine innings.

The Cardinals scored five runs on six hits while two runs came as the result of a two-base error in the second inning. Both Allen Craig and Matt Holliday were the only players to see an extra base hit.

Yadier Molina, who had a bad night with a passed ball early in the game, was the only Cardinals player to have a multi-hit game. The catcher went 2-for-3 at the plate, scoring once and driving in one run.

The Cubs scored so many runs that the Cardinals sent in Daniel Descalso as a reliever. It took two 85 mph pitches to get Mike Olt to fly out to left fielder Jon Jay. Jay came into the game during the top of the 8th inning after a triple-switch that saw Holliday and Molina removed from the game.

This game was made worse by the fact that Mike Matheny didn’t pull starting pitcher Tyler Lyons sooner. The left-handed pitcher gave up nine runs on nine hits over four innings on the mound. After giving up seven runs in two innings, Matheny should have pulled him and make it a bullpen game. Worse, Lyons hasn’t won a game since the end of May 2013.

The Cardinals don’t really have the benefit of a long-reliever that they could have thrown in there. The one starter over the past few seasons that was able to successfully fill in as a long-term reliever is Joe Kelly and today would have been his day to throw. It just shows how much is injury is hurting the team this season. Lyons has no wins and picked up his third loss on Monday.

The more the Cardinals struggle, the louder the calls will be for Oscar Taveras. And while we’re at it, why is Kolten Wong still playing with the Memphis Redbirds? Why is he the scapegoat for the offensive struggles?

Jennifer Langosch tweeted late Monday night that a roster move is coming.