Game Recap: Cubs crush Cardinals behind Busch blast, Rea's strong start

Jeff Curry - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 3 hours ago

ST. LOUIS - Now that is more like it. One night after getting shut out by the St. Louis Cardinals (59-59) at Busch Stadium, the Chicago Cubs (67-49) returned the favor on Saturday as they downed the Cardinals 9-1. While the win is just what the doctor ordered, it was the way the Cubs won that stands out as they used a mix of power, speed, and aggressiveness to make things happen, a lot of what made this team so successful in the early parts of the season.

It may not always be pretty, but Colin Rea continues to be everything the Cubs hoped for and more as he continues to do the job in place of the injured Justin Steele. Rea walked two and struck out six across six strong innings as the Cubs' offense took care of the rest. Opposing Rea was right-hander Andrew Pallante, who couldn't even make it out of the second inning in this one, being charged with six earned runs in just 1 2/3.

Starting fast hasn't been an issue for the Cubs despite their offensive struggles, and once again, it was the Cubs getting off to a fast start as they took the lead in the first and never looked back. All it took for the offense to get rolling was a leadoff double from Michael Busch, who continues to mash Cardinals pitching this season.

Busch would advance to third on a Seiya Suzuki groundout before a Kyle Tucker single put the Cubs on top for good, 1-0. Tucker played a key role in that inning, stealing second to move into scoring position before advancing to third on the Carson Kelly single. It was on that single when Tucker made things happen as he hustled home on an errant throw to push the Cubs' lead to 2-0, as that would go down as the game-winning hit.

The Cubs' offense was just getting started as a one-out single from Dansby Swanson was followed by a Matt Shaw walk, and just like that, the Cubs had a pair of runners on base to begin the second. That is when the big blow of the game came as Busch connected for his second hit in as many at-bats, connecting for a three-run shot to right as the Cubs broke things open 5-0. Tucker followed that homer up with a double before coming home on another Kelly RBI hit as the Cubs scored four times in the second to make this a 6-0 game.

As good as Rea's final line may have looked, it didn't come easy as he had to work around traffic in several innings, including the second when the Cardinals put a pair of runners on only to come away empty. Already in front 6-0 entering the third, the Cubs continued to keep the pressure on as a two-out single from Swanson kept the Cubs' inning alive before the Matt Shaw triple brought him home to push the lead to 7-0.

One inning later, and the same story for the Cubs as the top of their lineup continued to get the job done as Gordon Graceffo walked Tucker to start another Cubs rally with Kelly following up with his third hit to put another runner in scoring position. When the Cubs were at their best early in the season, they were driving home runs when the chances presented themselves, and this was one of those games as Ian Happ kept the production going with another RBI single to push the Cubs' lead to 8-0.

When you look at the current state of the Cubs' lineup and who's hitting versus not hitting, Shaw may be the hottest hitter on the team since the all-star break, at least from a power perspective. With his seventh homer of the season coming in the fifth to close out the scoring for the Cubs, Shaw now has six homers since the beginning of July and five since the All-Star break as he leads the Cubs in that category.

After wiggling out of a second-inning jam, Rea not only settled in, but settled down in a big way as he would go on to retire eight consecutive hitters at one point, which came to an end with a leadoff walk to begin the fifth. Rea managed to retire the next three hitters to keep the Cardinals off the board, but with Lars Nootbaar delivering a double to start the bottom of the sixth for the Cardinals, they had a runner in scoring position for the first time since the second inning.

Unlike the last time where Rea managed to keep them off the board, the Cardinals found a way to get the run home as Alec Burleson delivered an RBI groundout to put an end to the shutout and made this a 9-1 game. That would be all the offense for either team as the Cubs turned to Caleb Thilebar, Taylor Rogers, and Drew Pomeranz to close things out as the lefty trio did what they needed to do to give the Cubs a win, 9-1.

While the win is nice, it doesn't matter at this point as the Brewers continue to win and have now won eight straight games for the third time this season. Chicago pounded out 13 hits in the victory as Swanson and Kelly led the way with three hits. They were only two of the four players to record multiple hits, with Busch and Shaw joining in with two hits. The Cubs will look for the series victory on Sunday night when they turn to their stopper, Shota Imanaga, as he will face off against Sonny Gray.