LONDON – Paul Goldschmidt hit a successful RBI single chasing Chicago starter Marcus Stroman in the fourth inning and the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Cubs 7-5 on Sunday, earning a split of their weekend series at London Stadium.
The Cubs missed a chance to get back to .500 after Stroman (9-5) left the game with a right index finger blister, and the Cardinals ended a two-game deficit after a faulty first inning gave the Cubs an error gave a 4-0 lead.
The Cubs (37-39) won 9-1 in the first game but their winning streak was halted after four games. They haven’t been at .500 since May 12, though they’ve still won 11 of their last 14 games.
Jordan Hicks, who was out due to illness on Saturday, managed to record his fourth save on the last three outs – all in the last eight days. He hit two strikeouts and gave a sacrifice flight with an out to Nico Hoerner.
The Cardinals’ bullpen allowed a 6 2/3 innings run in front of a crowd of 55,565 in a temperature of 87 degrees at the start.
Jake Woodford (2-2) came on in the third for spot starter Matthew Liberatore and threw 2 1/3 innings.
COME BACK
The Cardinals (32-45) rebounded from a 4-0 deficit with timed hits and a big assist from Cubs first baseman Trey Mancini.
After the bases were loaded in the second round, Stroman hit Paul DeJong for the second out. Tommy Edman then landed in second place, but Hoerner’s sneaky throw at Mancini was blocked by the first baseman when he tried to grab it with his bare hands – allowing Willson Contreras to score the 4-1. Stroman slapped his mitt in frustration.
Brendan Donovan hit a two-run single to right field with a sinker – batters hit Stroman’s 17 sinkers and missed just three – and in the process scored Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker, who hit the throw with a head-first slide for 4: 3 mastered.
An inning later, the Cards tied 4-4 after Walker’s single, which Lars Nootbaar scored.
Goldschmidt put the “home” side ahead in the fourth round with a sharp single against Stroman, which hit Edman.
Then electricity was pulled and the team said the NL-ERA leader had a blister on his right index finger. The first batter-reliever Michael Fulmer faced was Nootbaar, whose sacrifice was scored by Donovan for a 6-4 lead.
An inning later, the Cards made it 7-4 when Gorman’s only goal came against Fulmer in Contreras.
EARLY GAFFES
The Cardinals gave Stroman a 4-0 lead before he even took the mound by committing two infield errors early in the first inning – which didn’t help Liberatore, who took over the ball Jack Flaherty’s apartment.
Hoerner took the lead and quickly got into the lead due to an error by DeJong and moved up to third place by stealing second place and moving up in second due to an error by Gorman.
Liberatore beat Christopher Morel and looked for the second out.
Dansby Swanson scored with a single for Hoerner. Ian Happ walked and Mancini then hit a two-run double and slammed a 95mph pitch off the wall into the left-center gap — it might have been eliminated in 2019 when the walls were closer — and made it 4-0 when Miguel Amaya doubled a hard shot past third baseman Nolan Arenado, which was originally ruled a miss.
Stroman allowed six runs, three earned and eight hits, and had two strikeouts and a walk. Liberatore lasted 2 1/3 innings.
MORE ROYALTY
After the Cubs royalty “Bill Murray countered with the Cardinals on Saturday John Goodman one day later. Goodman sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and dedicated it to Harry Caray.
GAME OF FAME
The Baseball Hall of Fame has collected some items from the London games. Cubs outfielder Ian Happ donated the batting gloves he wore as he hit two home runs on Saturday. Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt donated the hat he wore on Saturday when he became the first major league player to play a regular season game in five countries.
TRAINING ROOM
Cubs: Cody Bellinger returned after being ill on Saturday.
Cardinals: Gorman was called up after missing a day due to illness. RHP Flaherty was pulled from his scheduled start on Sunday due to a hip strain and manager Oliver Marmol said there were bullpen options should he miss another round in the rotation.
NEXT
The teams have Monday off to recover from travel and both start with six home games on Tuesday. The Cubs host the Philadelphia Phillies. The Cardinals host the Houston Astros.
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