The Cubs got exactly what they needed from Clay Holmes in his first start at Wrigley Field, and then some. The right-hander carved through the Cardinals in a 3-0 shutout, carrying a perfect game into the sixth inning before José Fermín broke it up with a single.
By then, Holmes had already stacked up 16 straight outs. He finished with just two baserunners allowed, leaving after 80 pitches and 6 2/3 innings with three strikeouts, one hit, and one walk.
Chicago and St. Louis are right back at it today at 1:20 pm CT, with lefty Matthew Boyd lined up against the Cardinals’ Michael McGreevy.
The Cardinals will have a new face in the lineup for that one. Joshua Baez is set to make his major league debut after manager Oli Marmol announced his promotion yesterday.
The 23-year-old arrives with plenty of prospect buzz behind him, ranked among the Top 100 by Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, and ESPN. He has also made noise in Triple-A, where he’s hit .256/.328/.573 with a 121 wRC+, while leading the International League with 34 home runs and 90 RBI.
St. Louis is hoping that bat shows up immediately as the club keeps evaluating pieces for the 2027 squad.
Elsewhere, Christian Walker delivered the loudest ending of the day for Houston. The Astros beat the Mariners 10-7 on Walker’s walk-off home run in the 10th inning.
Houston and Seattle were tied 5-5 entering the frame, but Enyel De Los Santos gave up two runs to the bottom of the Mariners’ order. The Astros answered with a rally of their own, as Isaac Paredes, Jose Altuve, and Daulton Varsho each singled to tie it back up.
That brought Walker to the plate, and he punished a hanging slider from Andrés Muñoz for a three-run shot to left.
Walker’s hot stretch at the plate keeps rolling, and the win left Houston three games ahead of the Rangers in the AL West.
Earlier in the day, the White Sox opened their series with the Tigers by taking a 9-5 win. Braden Montgomery drove in three runs for Chicago, including a two-run triple in a five-run fourth inning that ended up supplying the decisive damage.
Miguel Vargas also turned in a huge night, going 4-for-5 with two home runs. Detroit, now 60-62, still held the final AL Wild Card spot because the Twins were off and the Rangers fell 8-3 to the Athletics.
In Other News...
John Rooney Just Gave Cardinals Fans Another Reason To Hate Wrigley
John Rooney did not exactly soften his long-running relationship with Wrigley Field during a recent appearance on KMOX. The Cardinals radio voice made clear he still dislikes working there, even while noting that the people in Chicago are hospitable, and his comments fit neatly into the familiar St. Louis-Chicago baseball tension that never needs much reviving.
Wrigleys charm has always come with a price, and Rooneys gripe touched on the same old themes Cardinals fans know well: the wind, the ivy-covered walls and the ballparks age, all of which give it historic character and make it a tricky place to broadcast and play. For St. Louis listeners, it was another reminder that even after all these years, Wrigley can still provide plenty of reasons to mutter from the Cardinals side. [Read more 🡒]
Joshua Bez Gives Cardinals A Jolt They Desperately Needed
Joshua Bez arrived in the majors with the kind of burst the Cardinals have been waiting to see from one of their top outfield prospects. In his debut game, he turned his first three major league at-bats into three home runs, including a two-run shot off Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd, immediately flashing the power that had made him a force all season at Triple-A Memphis.
Bez had already built a loud case for a call-up by swatting 34 home runs in 103 games with the Redbirds, but nothing in the minors quite prepares a player for a start like this. For a Cardinals team looking for a spark, the bigger question now is how quickly this debut can turn from a stunning one-night surge into something lasting. [Read more 🡒]
Michael McGreevy Could Ease A Cardinals Problem Fans Know Too Well
Michael McGreevy has already shown one trait that can matter just as much as velocity or movement for a young Cardinals starter: he keeps runners honest. Across the majors, the minors and his college days, McGreevy has given up remarkably few stolen bases, a detail analyst Paul Hembekides recently called out on a podcast as a rare and useful skill for a pitcher trying to carve out a bigger role in St. Louis.
For a club that has spent plenty of time worrying about the running game, that kind of presence can make life easier for catcher Ivan Herrera and anyone else working behind the plate. Opponents may be less inclined to test McGreevy when he is on the mound, and for the Cardinals, even that small edge can add up over time as they look for cleaner innings and fewer extra mistakes to manage. [Read more 🡒]