ST. LOUIS — For a moment, it looked like the Cubs might pull off their third comeback of the game. Cody Bellinger found a hole on the right side of the infield, and his RBI single closed their deficit to a run.
But it wasn’t to be. Despite their best offensive performance in weeks, the Cubs fell to the Cardinals 7-6 on Saturday at Busch Stadium.
“I really thought we were gonna pull that out,” said starter Jameson Taillon, who held the Cardinals to three runs in 5⅔ innings. “I mean, that was pretty incredible. It’s one of those things where we lost, but hopefully that’s something we can build off of.”
The Cubs’ starting pitching has been carrying the team, and, in the last week, the bullpen posted the sixth-best ERA in the majors (2.79). The offense, however, has been in a rut this month. But it finally perked up against St. Louis.
With two outs and two runners on in the fourth inning, the ball jumped off Nico Hoerner’s bat toward the visitors’ bullpen in left field. Brendan Donovan tracked the ball, jumped to get it and missed it.
As Donovan searched for the bouncing ball, Christopher Morel flew around third base. And as Donovan threw it in, Morel crossed the plate standing up. Grinning, he gave Mike Tauchman, who had rounded the bases ahead of him, a double low-five.
Hoerner’s two-run double turned the fourth into a Cubs rally — something that has been hard to come by in recent weeks. And it tied the game.
Up next, Michael Busch fell behind 1-2 in the count. Then he reached out to the edge of the opposite batter’s box to drive a curveball into shallow center field. Hoerner scored standing up.
It was the first time in more than a week that the Cubs had scored three runs in an inning. Last Friday, they rallied for three meaningless runs in the eighth inning of a 9-3 loss to the Pirates after being blanked by rookie phenom Paul Skenes.
The Cardinals scraped back a run in the sixth inning, and the Cubs did the same in the seventh.
In the eighth, Mark Leiter Jr., one of the Cubs’ most reliable high-leverage relievers, entered with an ERA of 0.90.
“He’s been a big reason for a lot of wins,” manager Craig Counsell said. “And it just didn’t play tonight.”
Deep counts and soft contact gave the Cardinals traffic on the bases. Pinch hitter Matt Carpenter hit a line drive into right field. Seiya Suzuki fielded it and fired it home. It bounced on target. Catcher Miguel Amaya caught it and dove across the plate at Cardinals designated hitter Alec Burleson, who was sliding in headfirst.
Amaya rolled and held up the ball, looking to the plate umpire for the call. Safe.
Burleson — helmet rolling away, hair flying — punched the air. The Cardinals had tied the score again, and this time, the momentum would remain in their favor.
Donovan hit a two-run single off Leiter before Leiter was replaced by rookie Porter Hodge, who yielded an RBI triple to Lars Nootbaar.
The Cubs made a push with two more runs in the ninth inning, but it wasn’t enough.
The Cubs’ 12 hits were the most they’d had since the series finale in Atlanta on May 15, which they won 7-1 on the back of 13 hits.
“The next game is the next challenge,” Counsell said. “And I don’t know if there’s a carryover, but it’s better to have guys swinging it good going into the next game. We’re still gonna have to face a tough pitcher [Sonny Gray] tomorrow night and earn our runs.’’
