8 standouts from Cardinals sweep of Cubs

The St. Louis Cardinals put on a show against the Chicago Cubs to grow their lead over the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central race. 

The Cardinals swept the Cubs this weekend in St. Louis, bringing their lead over the Brewers to 8.5 games. The Cardinals won Friday 8-0, Saturday 8-4, and Sunday 8-0.

The Cardinals will take on the Washington Nationals in a four-game set starting today. Jack Flaherty will start Monday in his first outing since June 26. The team has been pleased with his progress since shutting things down in June. Having a healthy Flaherty through the season’s final weeks could be just what the pitching staff needs.

In this series, the Cardinals had several players step up and battle for their team. It’s been fun to see which player steps up for the Cardinals each game. Sometimes, it’s someone new, and sometimes a legend wowing the crowd one more time.

Albert Pujols has an epic final at-bat against Cubs

In the bottom of the eighth inning Sunday, Albert Pujols entered the game as a pinch hitter for Lars Nootbaar in what would be his final at-bat against the Cubs.

Pujols did not disappoint.

Pujols hit his 16th home run of the season and the 695th of his Hall of Fame career. The blast traveled 429 feet at 105.7 mph off Cubs reliever Brandon Hughes after a visit from manager David Ross. Whatever was said did not work to the Cubs’ benefit. Tommy Edman scored on the Pujols homer after he doubled on a sharp liner to left field.

While Pujols’ home run was the lone scoring the Cardinals received Sunday, the team had several standouts over the weekend series. Let’s take a look at those standouts.