10 standouts, 4 disappointments in St. Louis Cardinals series with Cubs

In an epic five-game series, the St. Louis Cardinals took on their NL Central rival Chicago Cubs. It was as dramatic as you would hope.

What a series! The Cardinals took three of five from the Cubs in their big weekend series.

The Cardinals lost Thursday 7-5 and won on Friday 14-5. The teams split their doubleheader Sunday, they lost the afternoon noon match 1-6 and won the night contest 7-4. And on Sunday night baseball, the Cardinals won 5-3 in 11 innings.

In Thursday’s game, the Cubs were long-ball crazy. Willson Contreras hit a home run in the first inning to left field, scoring Christopher Morel. Frank Schwindel homered in the third inning on a fly to left-center field. Noted Cardinal killer Ian Happ knocked a homer to center field. Combine this with an excellent bullpen start, and the Cardinals just could catch up – losing 7-5.

On Friday, the Cardinals were down early after a three-run homer from former Cardinal – turned Cub Patrick Wisdom. From there, the Cardinals bats showed up as they won 14-5.

Corey Dickerson had his break-out game for the Cardinals, going 2-for-5, knocking two home runs. These were his first two home runs for the Cardinals. The first was a liner to right field in the fourth inning off Marcus Stroman.  The homer traveled 377-feet at 101.7 mph. The second came in the ninth inning off the first baseman turned pitcher Frank Schwindel. The fly to the right-field traveled 390-feet at 103.2 mph. Dickerson was placed on the injured list Sunday after a calf injury.

Lars Nootbaar hit his first home run of the season in the ninth off of Schwindel. The fly to the right-center field traveled 400-feet at 100 mph.

The Cardinals’ lone run on Saturday afternoon was when Tommy Edman knocked his fifth homer of the year on a fly to right field off Matt Swarmer. The blast traveled 368-feet at 98.1 mph.

Also on Saturday afternoon, Albert Pujols played in his career 3,000th game as he was brought in to play first base when Brendan Donovan switched to right field to replace an injured Dickerson. What an amazing career.

Pujols was the designated hitter for the Cardinals on Sunday. He was 1-for-3 on the evening.

Genesis Cabrera was on fire in his four innings of relief on Sunday night and earned the win for the Cardinals. He gave up two hits, a walk, and one run while striking out five batters and inducing 10 swings and misses. This was the longest he has gone into a game. He had an impressive outing for the Cardinals. Hopefully, he takes all the positives from this outing and carries it forward.

More from the series below. The Cardinals will take on the Tampa Bay Rays in a three-game set this week.

Let’s take a look at the stand-ups and disappointments from the weekend series.