By MATT PIKE
The St. Louis Cardinals offense exploded on the north side of Chicago, beginning a rivalry series with the Cubs over the Independence Day weekend with a 17-1 win at Wrigley Field.
Andre Pallante threw 5.2 strong innings to earn his 10th win of the season, improving to 10-5, giving up five hits and walking one while striking out two. Max Rajic followed giving up the one run in 2.1 innings of relief, with two hits given up and striking out three, before Ryne Stanek closed out the game with a clean ninth inning, striking out one batter. All but one Cardinals starter had a hit in the game as well.
Nathan Church opened the scoring in the second inning with a three run home run, scoring José Fermín and Blaze Jordan. In the third inning, St. Louis added three more runs, starting with a sacrifice fly from Nelson Velázquez driving in Iván Herrera. Masyn Winn extended the lead with an RBI single that drove in Jordan Walker. Fermin hit an RBI double that brought home Winn for another run giving the Cardinals a 6-0 lead after three innings.
A five run fourth inning ended the day for Cubs starter David Peterson after Alec Burleson drove in Herrera and Walker on a two RBI single to put St. Louis up 8-0. Winn greeted reliever Bryse Wilson by hitting his fourth home run of the season, a three run shot that brought home Velázquez and Burleson, to end the scoring in the inning. The scoring continued into the fifth inning, a bases loaded walk to Velázquez driving in Jordan, and Burleson hitting another two RBI single, scoring Herrera and Walker, to go up 14-0 after five innings.
Herrera drove in two more runs in the sixth inning with a two RBI single, scoring Jordan and Church, before the Cardinals finally finished the scoring parade in the seventh inning with a bang when Bryan Torres hit his fourth home run of the season. Chicago's lone run came in the bottom half of the seventh, an RBI double by Alex Bregman driving in Pedro Ramirez after he hit his first triple of the season earlier in the inning.
Herrera was 3-for-4 on the day at the plate for the Cardinals with two RBI's and three runs scored. Burleson was 2-for-5 with four RBI's. Winn was 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBI's with two runs scored on the day. Velázquez was 0-for-3 on the day but scored a run and drove in two, walking twice.
St. Louis and Chicago continue their series tomorrow. Kyle Leahy (6-4, 4.09 ERA, 67K's) takes the mound for the Cardinals against Shota Imanaga (5-6, 4.30 ERA, 92K's) for the Cubs. First pitch is at 7:08pm, coverage begins at 6:55 on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.