By MATT PIKE
Joshua Báez homered in his first three at bats, becoming the first player to do so in his Major League debut, helping power the St. Louis Cardinals to an 8-4 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Báez, the Cardinals No. 3 prospect and No. 59 overall per MLB Pipeline.com, went 3-for-4 with five RBIs, all three of his hits home runs, going to all fields, becoming the first player in Major League history to homer in his MLB debut. Alec Burleon and Blaze Jordan also hit home runs for St. Louis, each finishing with one hit.
Burleson opened the scoring, reaching first but grounding into a forceout and driving in JJ Wetherholt. In the very next at bat, Báez hit his first career home run to center field, a two run home run Statcast-projected 449 feet to dead center field. The ball left his bat at 108.6 mph and gave the Cardinals a 3-0 lead. In the bottom of the second inning, the Cubs tied the game with a home run of their own, Michael Conforto hitting a three run home run, scoring Nico Hoerner and Pedro Ramírez.
After homering in his first at bat, on the first pitch he saw, Báez worked to a 3-2 count in the top of the fourth inning in his second at bat before hitting his second home run of the game, this time to left field 382 feet down the line, giving the Cardinals a 4-3 lead, becoming just the ninth player in MLB history to homer twice in his debut. He also became the second player since 1900 to homer in his first two career at-bats in one game, joining Bob Nieman on September 14th, 1951.
Then in the sixth inning, after Burleson walked to lead off the inning, Báez made more history, doing something no one has ever done. Báez, on a 1-0 count, blasted his third home run of the game in his third at bat to right field, his second two run homer of the game scoring Burleson, a 368-foot line drive that had an exit velocity of 99.8 mph off the bat. After Masyn Winn popped out for the first out of the inning, Jordan added a solo home run in the inning to put St. Louis up 7-3.
Burleson led off the top of the eighth capping the scoring for the Cardinals hitting his solo home run. In the bottom half of the eighth inning, Alex Bregman grounded into a double play driving in Seiya Suzuki after Suzuki led off the frame with a double. On the mound, Michael McGreevy earned the win for St. Louis, improving to 5-9 on the season, throwing six innings and striking out six, giving up three runs, all unearned, on five hits with two walks.
St. Louis and Chicago wrap up their series tomorrow. Hunter Dobbins (2-3, 3.40 ERA, 42Ks) for the Cardinals against Edward Cabrera (5-4, 5.10 ERA, 65Ks) for the Cubs. First pitch is at 2:15pm, coverage begins at 2:05pm on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
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