Cardinals Torch Cubs 17-1, Winn and Burleson Lead Demolition
St. Louis put up 17 runs on Chicago in a game that was effectively over before the third inning ended. Four Cardinals recorded multi-hit games, three hit home runs, and the Cubs managed just one run — on a seventh-inning double — against a pitching staff that allowed zero earned runs through 5.2 innings.
The game turned irreversible in the second inning. Nathan Church launched a 384-foot homer to right, scoring Fermín and Jordan to make it 3-0, and that swing alone dropped Chicago's win probability from 58% to 30%. It was the kind of blow that doesn't just change a score — it changes the entire character of a game. From that moment, the story of the night was how badly St. Louis could pile on, and the answer turned out to be: very badly.
The Cardinals didn't stop at three. They scored three more in the third — a Velázquez sacrifice fly, a Winn single, and a Fermín double — to push it to 6-0. Then the fourth inning arrived and things got genuinely ugly for Chicago. Alec Burleson singled to right to score Herrera and Walker, making it 8-0, and then Masyn Winn crushed a 391-foot homer to left center, scoring Velázquez and Burleson to put St. Louis up 11-0. The fifth inning added three more — a walk that scored Jordan, then another Burleson single to right that scored Herrera and Walker — pushing the lead to 14. Ivan Herrera singled to center in the sixth to score Church and Jordan, making it 16-0, and Bryan Torres capped the scoring with a solo shot to right in the seventh. Winn finished 2-for-4 with a homer and 4 RBI. Burleson went 2-for-5 with 4 RBI. Herrera was 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and scored three times. Blaze Jordan went 3-for-5 and scored three runs without driving one in — the kind of table-setting performance that looks quiet in a box score and is essential to a 17-run output.
On the mound, Andre Pallante worked 5.2 innings, allowing 5 hits and zero earned runs. Max Rajcic followed with 2.1 innings of one-run ball, and Ryne Stanek — reinstated from the paternity list earlier Friday — tossed a clean final inning with a strikeout. Stanek's return appears to have been well-timed; he stepped back into a bullpen that had absolutely nothing to prove tonight but showed up anyway. Chicago's lone run came in the seventh on a Bregman double that scored Ramirez — a footnote in what was otherwise a thorough, methodical dismantling. The Cubs recalled Drew Pomeranz from Triple-A before this game; he did not factor into the scoring sequence. This was simply not Chicago's night in any direction.