Resurgent Cubs take rivalry with Cardinals to London
Send a link to a friend
[June 24, 2023]
Although both sit below .500, the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis
Cardinals head to England playing some of their best baseball.
The Cubs will try for a fourth straight victory when they face the
Cardinals, winners in four of five, on Saturday, in the first of two
games in the 2023 MLB London Series.
This will be the second time Major League Baseball plays on a London
stage. In 2019, the New York Yankees took both games against the
rival Boston Red Sox during a set that featured a 50 combined runs
and 65 hits.
"The way I look at is we get to go to a cool venue in London, and
have fun and play a rivalry game," Cubs manager David Ross said.
St. Louis has been designated as the home team for both games.
Chicago has won 10 of 12 to get within two games of .500. That
includes a current 8-1 stretch, where the Cubs have outscored their
opponents 64-25, have a .366 on-base percentage and 2.44 team ERA.
"We're trying to play our best brand of baseball, and we're doing a
little of that right now," Ross said.
Chicago's Nico Hoerner, who homered and had three RBIs in
Wednesday's 8-3 win to complete a sweep of Pittsburgh, is batting
.314 with 12 RBIs over the last 12. Teammate Mike Tauchman, who
played in the '19 London Series with the Yankees, is hitting .325
with eight RBIs in his last 11 contests.
Scheduled Cubs starter Justin Steele (7-2, 2.71 ERA) has been one of
the majors' biggest surprises in 2023.
Steele allowed only a two-run homer through five innings during last
Saturday's 3-2 win over Baltimore in his first start since missing
nearly three weeks with a forearm strain. The left-hander lasted six
innings, yielding seven hits and three walks, but three runs, during
Chicago's 10-4 win over St. Louis on May 10.
[to top of second column] |
Against Steele, Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado
are a combined 7-for-18 (.389) for the Cardinals, who sit 13 games
under .500 and last in the NL Central. However, St. Louis just won
back-to-back road series against the New York Mets and Washington
Wednesday's 3-0 loss to the Nationals snapped a
four-game winning streak where the Cardinals scored 30 runs and
clubbed 11 home runs.
"I feel like there's a lot of things happening that are very
positive, and pointing in the right direction -- as far as the style
of play that we're used to seeing," St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol
said.
Cardinals rookie Jordan Walker continues to stand out while batting
.400 with four homers and eight RBIs during a 13-game hitting
streak. Meanwhile, it's been an inconsistent start to ex-Cubs
catcher's Willson Contreras' first season in St. Louis, but he's
6-for-20 with four RBIs in his last five games.
Veteran Adam Wainwright (3-1 5.56) takes the ball for the Cardinals.
He has allowed three runs in four straight starts, most recently
over a season-high 6 1/3 innings of last Saturday's 5-3 victory over
the Mets. The right-hander is 19-14 with a 3.84 ERA in 48 career
starts against the Cubs.
Chicago's Ian Happ has four hits in the last two games, and is
batting .344 (11-for-32) with four homers versus Wainwright.
However, Dansby Swanson is 0-for-11 against him, but is hitting .324
in his last nine games, and hopes to return after sitting out
Wednesday because of taking a pitch to the arm.
--Field Level Media
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |