The Cubs spent Saturday afternoon watching Joshua Baez turn Wrigley Field into his own stage.
Chicago fell 8-4 to the Cardinals, but the score only tells part of the story. Baez, a 22-year-old outfielder making his MLB debut, became the first player ever to hit three home runs in his first major league game. He did all of his damage in his first three at-bats, and by the time he launched the second one, the Cubs’ comeback chances already felt like they were slipping away.
Baez finished with five RBI and left the ballpark with a line that won’t be forgotten anytime soon. He entered the day with 34 home runs for St.
Louis’ Triple-A affiliate, but plenty of fans at Wrigley likely had to look him up before the 1:20 start. By the end of it, they knew exactly who he was.
Chicago did have one real answer at the plate. Michael Conforto’s three-run homer - his 10th of the season - accounted for the bulk of the offense and briefly gave the Cubs life.
But outside of that swing, the bats were quiet again against Cardinals pitching, much like Friday’s 3-0 win for St. Louis.
There was still a late opening. In the bottom of the eighth, Seiya Suzuki opened with a double, Michael Busch followed with a single, and Alex Bregman came up with runners on the corners.
Bregman bounced into a double play, Suzuki scored, and that was that. The Cubs had trimmed it to 8-4, but the rally stopped there.
Matthew Boyd took the loss, and it was a rough one. He allowed seven earned runs on five hits, and four of those hits left the yard.
Baez was the main wrecking ball, but Boyd also didn’t miss enough bats and had to rely heavily on his fastball to get strikes. It was his worst outing since coming off the IL in June.
Still, it’s hard to read too much into one ugly afternoon when Boyd has been so steady overall. Over his last seven starts, he owns a 2.35 ERA and has given up just five home runs. For now, he remains one of the three starters the Cubs would lean on in a three-game Wild Card series.
The silver lining for Chicago is the depth around him. Colin Rea came in and covered two innings despite allowing a solo homer in the eighth, and he could still be in the mix for Monday’s series against the White Sox. With Edward Cabrera and Ben Brown getting closer to returning, the Cubs have more arms to help soak up innings and keep Boyd fresher for the stretch run.
Cabrera is set to start the finale against the Cardinals on Sunday after missing time since June 23 with an adductor and hamstring strain. He opened the season with promise, posting a 3.27 ERA in his first seven starts while striking out 37 and walking 14. He was clearly the Cubs’ best swing-and-miss pitcher during that stretch.
The next seven starts were a different story. Cabrera put up a 7.55 ERA, had trouble getting through five innings, and watched his season ERA climb from 3.27 to 5.10. The strikeout stuff wasn’t there the same way, and opponents did more damage.
Now he’s healthy again, and his most recent rehab outing included 5.0 no-hit innings. Cabrera also reached 75 pitches in that start, so Sunday should give the Cubs a real look at where he stands against big league hitters. If he’s close to the version they saw early, he could become one of their most dangerous weapons, whether that ends up being in the rotation or out of the bullpen.
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