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.

Standout – Nolan Gorman

Nolan Gorman was the Cardinals’ designated hitter on Friday. Gorman knocked his third home run of the season on a fly to right-center field scoring Andrew Knizner and Tommy Edman.

The top prospect’s first home run at Wrigley field traveled 424-feet at 104.6 mph.

He was 0-for-4 on Saturday afternoon. On Saturday evening, he was 1-for-4. Gorman entered the game late on Sunday, going 0-for-2 with one run, after starting the 11th inning as the runner on second. Juan Yepez singled to center field, scoring Gorman.

Standout – Paul Goldschmidt

Paul Goldschmidt continued on the track that led him to win NL Player of the Month honors for May. He just keeps hitting. It’s awesome to see.

On Thursday, he was 1-for-5 with a run and an RBI. In the third inning, Goldschmidt doubled to center field, scoring Harrison Bader. Goldy scored on a single off the bat of Nolan Arenado.

On Friday, he was 1-for-3 with two walks, two runs, and three RBI. Goldy knocked his 12th home run of the season on a fly to right-center field, scoring Bader and Tommy Edman. The blast traveled 390-feet at 102.9 mph.

Goldschmidt broke his hitting streak on Saturday afternoon, walking twice without getting a hit.

On Saturday evening, he was 1-for-5 with two runs. On Sunday, he was 2-for-5 with one run.

Nolan Arenado singled to center field in the fifth inning Sunday, scoring Edman and Goldschmidt.

Standout – Harrison Bader

Harrison Bader arrived in Chicago to kick things up a notch after turning 28.

On Thursday, Bader was 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI. Bader knocked his fifth home run of the season on a fly to left-center field, scoring Lars Nootbaar. The 371-foot blast traveled 101.5 mph.

On Friday, he was 2-for-5 with two runs. On Saturday afternoon, he was 2-for-2. On Saturday evening, Bader was 1-for-5 with a run. Bader singled to center field scoring Brendan Donovan in the tenth inning. Bader scored on a grounder by Lars Nootbaar.

On Sunday, Bader was 2-for-5 with two runs scored. In the ninth inning, Nootbaar singled to center field, scoring Bader.

Standout – Zack Thompson

Thompson made his major league debut on Friday in relief of starter Miles Mikolas who went five innings.

Thompson earned his first save after four innings of work, giving up three hits, one earned run, and a walk while striking out three. He induced five swings and misses.

It was great to see Thompson make his debut in such amazing fashion. It will be interesting to see if this earns him an extended stay that may include a start. It was nice to see a good performance from the first player to wear the number #57 since the passing of Darryl Kile in 2021.

Standout – Brendan Donovan

This young man had an outstanding series against the Cubs.

Donovan played second base and was 1-for-2 Thursday. On Friday, he played second base and third base, going 1-for-5, with an RBI.

In the Cardinals Saturday afternoon game, Donovan started at first base and moved to rightfield after Corey Dickerson was removed for a calf injury. Donovan was 1-for-3 with a walk.

On Saturday evening, he played left field and was 3-for-5 with one run and four RBI.  In the fourth inning with Donovan up, Cubs starter Caleb Kilian threw a wile pitch to score Tommy Edman. Donovan then hit his seventh double of the season on a liner to left field, scoring Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado.

In the tenth inning, Donovan doubled again on a liner to left field off Michael Rucker, scoring Goldschmidt and Arenado.

Donovan started in the right field on Sunday night. He was two-for-five with one RBI. In the 11th inning, Donovan hit his ninth double of the season on a drive to right field, scoring Bader.

Standout – Adam Wainwright

It was Wainwright’s 315 game with batterymate Yadier Molina. On ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. Against the Chicago Cubs. Expectations were high, for sure.

Wainwright struggled early but ultimately pitched seven innings, giving up nine hits, two walks, and two earned runs. While he did not have a strike out on the night, he did induce 10 swings and misses.

Disappointment – Matthew Liberatore

After such high hopes, it is disappointing that Matthew Liberatore’s first start at Wrigley Field wasn’t as spectacular as we all hoped.

Now 1-1, Liberatore pitched 3.1 innings, giving up six hits, and four earned runs including three home runs mentioned earlier. He did induce nine swings and misses, but Liberatore couldn’t seem to get on track to pitch without being a little wild.

Hopefully, he will dust off this bad outing and develop into the lefty we’ve been hoping for, but in the meantime, he was demoted back to AAA Memphis. He will be back sooner rather than later.

 Disappointment – T. J. McFarland

He’s not playing to the expectation the Cardinals had when they signed him to a one-year deal worth $2.5 million. It’s frustrating to see, for sure.

On Thursday, he pitched 1.1 innings, giving up three hits and two earned runs. For the season, he’s had 18 outings, pitching 20 innings with an ERA of 7.65.

Will the Cardinals allow him to improve in reward for what he brought to the team in 2021 or ask what he’s done for them lately? As the Cardinals gain more options from the minor leagues and through returns from the injured list, it will be interesting to see what, if anything, this could mean for McFarland.

Disappointment – Johan Oviedo

In his first outing with the Cardinals this season, Oviedo failed again to earn his first major league victory after starting Saturday’s day game.

He is 0-1 after five innings pitched, giving up eight hits, three walks, and three earned runs. He strikes out five. He did induce 12 swings and misses.

He seemed flustered after a balk was called on him and this went downhill from there.

Disappointment – Jake Woodford

Unable to figure it out, Woodford looked terribly frustrated and appeared to be letting himself have it after each hitting while walking back to the dugout.

Woodford pitched three innings, giving up five hits, a walk, and three earned runs. He induced four swings and misses.

Woodford was sent back to Memphis on Sunday as Jake Walsh was recalled.