Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell insisted it was just a matter of time before his batters got rolling again.
“I’ll say it again: This is a good offense,” Counsell said after the Cubs lost 5-0 to the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday. “We’re going to score runs.”
Chicago did just that on Saturday night in a 9-1 rout of St. Louis. The Cubs will try to build off that breakthrough on Sunday night when they finish their three-game weekend road series against the Cardinals.
The Cubs scored three runs or fewer on six occasions during a nine-game span before Saturday’s uprising.
Michael Busch has punished Cardinals pitching all season, going 15-for-34 with six homers, 12 runs and 11 RBIs. Many Cubs joined him on Saturday, including Matt Shaw (2-for-3, homer, two runs, two RBIs), Carson Kelly (3-for-4, RBI), Dansby Swanson (3-for-4, stolen base, two runs) and Kyle Tucker (1-for-4, walk, two runs, RBI).
“A multiple-run first inning, which I felt was just good, we haven’t been doing that a lot lately,” Counsell said of the two-run inning. “We played really good offense, hit a bunch of balls hard tonight, and put a big run number up.”
The Cubs on Sunday will start left-hander Shota Imanaga (8-4, 3.12 ERA), who is trying to sustain a late-season turnaround.
Imanaga struggled during his last two starts in July while allowing 10 runs on 17 hits — including five homers — in just eight innings. He got back on track on Tuesday while holding the Cincinnati Reds to one run on three hits in 6 1/3 innings while striking out seven and walking none. The Cubs lost 5-1.
Imanaga earned a 3-0 victory over the Cardinals on June 26, blanking them for five innings on one hit and one walk while striking out three. He is is 2-0 with a 2.41 ERA in three career starts against St. Louis.
The Cardinals will counter on Sunday with right-hander Sonny Gray (10-5, 4.21 ERA), who also is trying to sustain a turnaround.
Gray delivered his best performance since June in his last start. He held the Dodgers to one run on one hit — a Freddie Freeman homer — in seven innings on Monday in Los Angeles. He struck out eight and walked one as St. Louis won 3-2.
Gray re-established his sweeper against the Dodgers.
“I knew it was sharp when Shohei (Ohtani) swung at it as the first batter of the game, but I also set it up pretty well because I got the ball to his hands so that his hips were moving earlier,” Gray told MLB.com. “But when I threw that first one to (Ohtani) and he swung at it, I knew that was a good thing. Then, when Freddie did it as well, it was executed.
“Then I felt more comfortable in those moments because I was executing, and I had done the work to force them to swing.”
Cardinals utility player Brendan Donovan is questionable for Sunday’s game. He was a late scratch from the lineup Saturday night due to left groin tightness.
–Field Level Media
