Some nights, a baseball team simply doesn't have it. The signs come early and often, like when one mixes a couple of alcoholic drinks on an empty stomach. Doom on the horizon with salvation a decent distance away. The St. Louis Cardinals were that overzealous party hound on Friday night against the rival Chicago Cubs; they broken before the one hour mark of the game.
Michael Wacha had a night to forget against a team he hates to face in the Cubs, and the result was the worst start of his career. In the end, it was 13 runs, 14 hits, and 5 walks allowed by the Cardinals pitching staff.
Let's dig into the five things we could take away.
5) Marcell Ozuna is having himself quite a month. He cranked his sixth home run in the month of June, a mammoth 415 foot blast that broke the shutout in the fourth inning. Ozuna is pushing his numbers from respectable power hitting timecard puncher to solid ground. I'm talking .450 slugging % and .800 OPS territory. Ozuna is 20-48 in June with a 1.295 OPS. A true bright spot in a spiraling team.
4) Jon Lester didn't blink, improving to 8-2 on the season. He allowed a couple runs, but kept the Cardinals off balance and took the early lead from his offense and ran with it. The southpaw is finding a groove against St. Louis, improving to 7-4 lifetime with an ERA just over 2.00.
3) Matt Carpenter did his part at the plate, cranking his ninth home run and driving in two runs. Slowly but surely, the OPS is climbing towards .800 and the OBP is getting healthier by the day. He's still not all the way back, but I'll take the nine homers and 17 doubles. I'll also add that Carpenter is playing a good third and first base recently as well.
2) Jedd Gyorko is ice cold at the plate, going 6-38 in his last 15 games with a .263 slugging percentage. There hasn't been much power or consistency from the guy who surprised fans with the ability to turn on ANY fastball the past two years. With Paul DeJong out and Kolten Wong unable to hit, Gyorko is being counted on this weekend. He didn't have a great debut.
1) Wacha's game score was -1. That's how bad it got. It was his worst start since May 23, 2016. He allowed six earned runs in four innings during that start, which was also against the Cubs. Lifetime, he is 4-8 with an ERA well over 6.00 against the North Siders. He served up three home runs for the first time in a good while and suffered his first loss since opening day. Wacha's fastballs right over the plate were getting hammered. Kyle Schwarber's shot in the fifth inning almost cleared the grass in straight away center field. Wacha's location was painfully off and it cost him.
Good news: Matt Bowman came back and pitched a scoreless inning with two strikeouts. That doesn't happen often, so appreciate the action there.
The Cardinals dropped their third game in a row and have drifted to 4-6 in their last ten games. This team doesn't look like a playoff contender right now, despite their solid pitching overall. The offense, without Jose Martinez, just looks weak and beatable. The Cubs may walk a lot of batters and have struggled to hit consistently, but their team ERA leads the majors. They aren't going away and could make this weekend a fateful matchup for the Cardinals.
Carlos Martinez stands in the way tomorrow, hoping to turn the page on a couple rough outings.
Tomorrow has to be better, right?
Thanks for reading,
DLB
