Cards get Hamels’d again, drop opener in Wrigley 3-1
Well......
Well...............
Welllllllll..............
Here we are, again. The second time in a five day period in which Cole Hamels absolutely flexed his junk on the Cardinals. He flexed so hard that the Cardinals would only put one base runner in scoring position during his 8 innings of 3 hit ball, a Harrison Bader two out double in the top of the 2nd.
If you didn’t know by now, it was just “one of those days” for the Cards. I mean, Dex would get on base in the 6th with a single to RF, then turn around and get immediately picked off 1B from Hamels. Hamels basically transforms into the Incredible Hulk before taking the mound against the Cardinals.
This is the second time in 5 days that Hamels has made the Cardinals look bad, really bad. In those starts he’s thrown: (15IP, 50 TBF, 5 hits (1 xbh Bader’s today), 3bb, 14 k’s)
That’s kryptonite, folks.
As for the Cardinals, the Liz King took the hill this afternoon and it just wasn’t his day. Rizzo would work a leadoff walk to open the bottom of the 1st inning and come around to score on a Báez 2-run oppo taco shot. Mik struck out the side, but not before it was 2-0 Cubs.
The Cubs would plate another run in the top of the 4th, hitting back-to-back two outs doubles off the bats of Heyward and Caratini. Heyward doubled to RF and Caratini traded places with him, sending his to the LCF gap to make it 3-0 Cubs. David Bote ended the inning sending a screamer back to Mik on the mound, lining directly off his right forearm. Mik would be removed from the game afterwards with a right forearm contusion.
Gallegos (2IP), Helsley (1IP), and Webb* (1IP) tossed four scoreless from the pen. The 5th inning ended with a Kris Bryant, two out, double down the LF line. The ball would find it’s way to a security guard down the line, sneaking under him and rattling against his stool. Swags would throw his hands up like, “hey, idiots, this is a ground-rule double.” But it wasn’t. Play continued. And after a slight hesitation from Rizzo rounding the bases, he would get canned at the plate trying to make it a 4-0 Cubs lead.
Helsley would pitch the 7th, working himself into a bases loaded jam, all thanks to the walk bug. With two outs and 1B open, Shildt would elect to IBB Rizzo to load ‘em up for Bryant. This seems like a ballsy move every time Shildt does it, and honestly, I have not been a fan a handful of occasions he’s done this. But it worked. Because Ryan Helsley is a freaking horse. Helsley would get Bryant to go down swinging at 100mph gas to end the inning, stranding the bases juiced.
Pauly Deez made sure the Cards weren’t shutout by their division rivals on the road, sending a solo blast to LF off Strop in the 9th (106.4 exit velo, 382 feet) to make it a 3-1 contest.
But that’s all she wrote for game-one. Cards strikeout 12 times and drop to (0-4) at Wrigley Field in 2019. Jack Flaherty (4-3, 3.76) looks to even the series up tonight, taking the ball against another veteran southpaw, Jon Lester* (4-4, 3.32). First pitch 6:15pm c/t.
Cheers, Stew