ST. LOUIS — The Cubs lost both games of a doubleheader Saturday against the Cardinals, 11-3 and 5-4, to snap a five-game winning streak.
Game 1 was all but decided after starter Hayden Wesneski allowed nine runs in the first inning. Only two were earned.
“We gave them six outs,” manager Craig Counsell said between games.
The Cubs made three mistakes in the field before the first out. With the game tied 1-1 and runners on first and second, Wesneski got Lars Nootbaar to hit a chopper up the middle. He fielded it and sailed his throw to second base into center field.
Next up, Nolan Arenado hit a ground ball right to shortstop Dansby Swanson, but third baseman Miles Mastrobuoni cut it off and failed to get an out, loading the bases for Brendan Donovan.
Donovan chopped a soft ground ball to the right side, but Wesneski missed it on the hop, and his flip to first was too late.
Still, the Cubs might’ve gotten out of the inning with only a 3-1 deficit if it weren’t for a hit by pitch.
Wesneski got back-to-back bases-loaded strikeouts against Nolan Gorman and Pedro Pages. Then on a 2-2 count, Wesneski’s inside sweeper broke into Michael Siani’s hands, pushing across another run and turning over the lineup. Masyn Winn’s two-run single and Alec Burleson’s three-run home run put the game out of reach.
“Weird inning,” Wesneski said. “I’m the one who really messed it up, starting with the sailed throw to second. Still competed. Still got weak contact. It’s just one of those things where, one thing goes right, we’re in a different game. The homer at the end kind of was the nail in the coffin. I was grinding my butt off and left one pitch over the middle.”
Even after throwing 40 pitches in the first inning, Wesneski made it through four innings.
“The rest of the game put us in decent shape,” Counsell said of the bullpen.
Defense tightens up
Game 2 also threatened to get out of hand early, but the defense righted the ship this time.
Javier Assad, returning from the 15-day injured list for the start as the “27th man,” gave up homers to Winn and Willson Contreras, two of the first three batters he faced.
But Mastrobuoni made two nice plays to limit the damage and escape the inning, throwing out the lead runner on a tag play at home for the second out and making a diving stop for the last out.
In the second inning, the Cubs took the lead with four runs and six hits, including a two-run homer by Miguel Amaya. And in the bottom half of the inning, a dart of a throw from Seiya Suzuki to nab Matt Carpenter at the plate helped the Cubs hold on to the lead.
The third inning ended when left fielder Ian Happ caught Arenado off second base on a fly ball for a double play.
After Assad allowed three runs in 2⅓ innings, Cubs relievers held the Cardinals scoreless until the eighth, when they took back the lead on Arenado’s two-run single off rookie Porter Hodge.
“The bullpen was wonderful,” Counsell said. ‘‘We asked Porter to do a tough job — to get five outs in a one-run game, go through the middle of their lineup.”
Roster moves
Before the first game, the Cubs put left-handed reliever Luke Little on the 15-day injured list with a strained left shoulder. He had left the game Friday night after four pitches.
“We’ll learn more over the All-Star break,” Counsell said. “It’s likely some sort of shoulder injury, and that’s concerning for a pitcher.”
The Cubs recalled Ethan Roberts from Triple-A Iowa for Game 1. After he threw two scoreless innings, the Cubs optioned him and recalled Daniel Palencia for Game 2.
