Matthew Boyd celebrated his All-Star Game selection by striking out nine batters in five innings as Chicago Cubs demolished the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 11-0 Sunday night.
Fellow All-Star selection Kyle Tucker drove in three runs for the Cubs, who have won eight of their last 11 games. Seiya Suzuki contributed a double, home run and two RBIs to the outburst, while Nico Hoerner had three hits, three runs and an RBI and Reese McGuire drove in two.
Boyd (9-3) allowed just three hits and a walk while winning his third straight start. Jordan Wicks threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings and Daniel Palencia retired the last two batters to complete the shutout.
The Cardinals have lost five of their last six games to fall 6 1/2 games behind the National League Central-leading Cubs.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde (3-9) allowed three runs on two hits and four walks in 1 1/3 innings.
Chicago took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Tucker walked, stole second and scored on Pete Crow-Armstrong’s single.
The Cubs knocked Fedde out of the game in the second inning. Hoerner hit a leadoff double and took third on a one-out wild pitch.
After Fedde walked Matt Shaw and Ian Happ, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol summoned John King. Tucker greeted King with a two-run single to put Chicago up 3-0.
The Cubs increased their lead to 8-0 in the third inning. Michael Busch and Dansby Swanson walked, then Hoerner hit a blooped single to load the bases. McGuire hit an RBI single to force another pitching change — and the onslaught continued against reliever Matt Svanson.
Shaw’s fielder’s choice grounder resulted in a run-producing throwing error. Happ hit an RBI groundout, Tucker hit a sacrifice fly, then Suzuki smacked an RBI double.
Hoerner’s RBI triple and McGuire’s run-scoring grounder pushed Chicago’s lead to 10-0 in the fourth inning. Suzuki’s homer in the fifth inning made it 11-0.
–Field Level Media
