By MATT PIKE
Seiya Suzuki, Ian Happ, and Nico Hoerner drove in two runs apiece and the Chicago Cubs jumped out to a seven-run lead after two innings that the St. Louis Cardinals could not overcome in a 10-2 at Busch Stadium.
Happ punctuated an 11-pitch at-bat with a two-run double to get the Cubs' scoring started, driving in Alex Bregman and Suzuki in the first inning. Pete Crow-Armstrong's sacrifice fly scored Michael Conforto and Suzuki added a double, bringing home former Cardinal Carson Kelly to start a five run second inning. Michael Busch and Hoerner added RBI singles, with Busch bringing Suzuki across home plate and Hoerner driving in both Busch and Bregman, to make it 7-0 early in the game, chasing Cardinals starter Michael McGreevy.
McGreevy, who took the loss falling to 4-9 on the season, lasted just 1.2 innings and gave up eight hits and seven earned runs while walking two and striking out two as the Cardinals dropped a third straight game. He was relieved by Gordon Graceffo who finished out the second inning forcing Conforto to fly out. The Cardinals scored their first run in the fourth inning cutting into the lead after Alec Burleson walked and Lars Nootbaar and Masyn Winn singled to load the bases. Burelson scored on a sacrifice fly by Nathan Church.
Graceffo surrendered a run to Cubs in the fifth inning on an infield single by Pedro Ramírez driving in Hoerner. In the eighth inning Chicago added another run off reliever Peter Strzelecki, who was called up on Tuesday, as Suzuki added an RBI single, scoring Ramírez. The Cubs final run in the ninth came off reliever Matt Svanson who surrendered an RBI single to Kelly, scoring Happ, as the Cubs banged out a total of 17 hits. St. Louis capped the scoring in the bottom half of the ninth on a ground rule double from Winn that scored Lars Nootbaar.
At the plate, Winn was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Church was 1-for-3 with an RBI while Nootbaar was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. JJ Wetherholt was 1-for-2 with a walk.
St. Louis and Chicago continue their series tomorrow. Dustin May (5-7, 4.59 ERA, 103K's) starts for the Cardinals opposite Matthew Boyd (6-1, 3.81 ERA, 55K's) for the Cubs. First pitch is at 6:45pm, coverage begins at 6:35 on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
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