Game Recap: Brown blasted as Cards top Cubs

Joe Puetz - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - 19 hours ago

ST LOUIS - It's hard to believe that we are one week away from July, and the Chicago Cubs (46-32) just played the St. Louis Cardinals (43-36) for the first time this season. That is just how this new balanced schedule works, as you don't play your division rivals as often as you used to, and the space between meetings can be lengthy.

It may have taken three months, but these hated rivals finally squared off on Monday as they opened a four-game set at Busch Stadium. Backed by a quartet of two-run homers and a strong pitching performance from Matthew Liberatore, it was the Cardinals besting the Cubs in round one to open the series with an 8-2 win.

As good as this Cubs offense has been all season, hitting lefties has been a struggle, as this team has statistically been the worst-hitting team in baseball against left-handers since mid-May. That trend continued in this one as Liberatore got off to a fast start and never looked back, giving the Cardinals seven strong innings of two-run baseball to lower his ERA to 3.96.

Ben Brown, on the other hand, may have just started his final game with the Cubs this season as the right-hander continues to search for answers. With Shota Imanaga scheduled to pitch on Thursday, the Cubs are going to have to make a move in their rotation, as Colin Rea and Brown are the two questions. Brown was hoping to use Monday as an audition, but after allowing four two-run homers and nine hits through five innings, his days in Chicago appear numbered, with a trip to Iowa possibly on the horizon.

As bad as Brown was, there were some positives to take from his outing, with all of those coming in the early innings. Not only was Brown able to keep his pitch count down, but he also kept the Cardinals' offense in check through three innings, as the early innings have been an issue for Brown. It was in the fourth when the Cardinals finally started to size him up with Willson Contreras picking up a two-out double ahead of the Lars Nootbaar homer, and just like that, it was the Cardinals on top 2-0.

Hoping for their offense to turn things around, Pete Crow-Armstrong wasted no time setting the Cubs offense up, leading off the fifth with a double before racing home on the Carson Kelly single to make this a 2-1 game. Nico Hoerner followed suit with a single of his own while a one-out walk to Matt Shaw loaded the bases and set the Cubs up with their best scoring chance of the night.

It was in this moment when the game completely shifted as Ian Happ swung at a first pitch cutter from Liberatore and promptly grounded into an inning ending double play to kill the rally and kept the Cardinals in front 2-1. Things only got worse from there as Brown saw his outing spiral out of control in the fifth, allowing a pair of two-run homers to Brendan Donovan and Aled Burleson to extend the Cardinals' lead to 6-1.

Had it not been for an extremely taxed bullpen, there is no way Brown would have come out to pitch the sixth, but given the circumstances, Craig Counsell had no choice but to push Brown out for the sixth with the hopes of him sparing the pen for at least one night. Instead, Nolan Arenado led the inning off with his second hit of the game before Nolan Gorman's homer chased Brown from the game with the Cardinals on top 8-1.

St. Louis wouldn't score again as Michael Fulmer and Ryan Brasier combined to throw three scoreless innings of relief, allowing just two hits. For Fulmer, this was a moment long in the making as the former Cubs closer had Tommy John surgery in 2023 before signing a minor league deal with the Cubs in May.

This was his first MLB appearance with Chicago since that surgery, and he looked right at home on the mound. As was the case earlier in the game, Crow-Armstrong continued to make things happen at the plate, leading off the top of the seventh with another double and advancing to third on the Hoerner single.

Two batters later, it was Justin Turner coming through as his sacrifice fly pushed across another run for the Cubs to get them within 8-2. That would be it for either side, as the Cubs dropped their fourth game in their last five and are now 7-9 in their past 16 games. The middle to bottom third of the Cubs' batting order did the most damage as Kelly, Crow-Armstrong, and Hoerner all had two hits in the loss.