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Cards’ bats stymied again in 5-0 loss to Cubs
Chicago, Ill. – After winning seven straight after the All-Star break and eight in a row overall, the St. Louis Cardinals have now gone 20 innings with scoring a run and were shutout for the second straight game, this time losing 5-0 to their archrival Chicago Cubs Friday afternoon (July 23) at Wrigley Field. The shutout loss is the Cards’ second straight, snapping a major league record of 2,370 games without consecutive shutouts.
What a difference two months make for the Cards and Cubs’ hurler Randy Wells. Back on May 28, Wells faced the Redbirds and allowed five runs and was removed in the first inning without recording an out. This time around, Wells fared much better as he sat down the first five batters he seen and held the Cards scoreless over his seven innings of work.
On the other hand, it only took the Cubs one hitter to jump on top for good against Jeff Suppan, as Tyler Colvin led off the bottom of the first with his 13th homer of the season. The Cubs threatened again in the first with consecutive walks to Aramis Ramirez and Marlon Byrd, but Suppan stranded the two runners when Alfonso Soriano popped out to end the inning.
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Suppan danced around and out of trouble as the Cubs stranded two runners in the second and one more in the third, but could not escape in the bottom of the fourth as Geovany Soto led off with a solo homer that put the Cubs up 2-0.
Things really got out of hand in the fifth when the Cards botched a potential inning ending double play that led to a two-run home run by Soriano that gave the Cubs a 4-0 lead.
After only mustering one hit in 11 innings yesterday (July 22), the Cards could only produce five hits today.
The Cards (54-43) will send Blake Hawksworth (4-5, 4.85 ERA) to the mound in hopes of ending a two-game losing streak, and will no doubt hope the bats wake up again after a two-game slumber. Hawksworth has won his past two starts, with a 4.77 ERA in those outings. He allowed three runs in the first inning his last start against the Phillies, but settled down give up only one more run over his last five innings. The Cubs will counter with Tom Gorzelanny (5-5, 3.12 ERA). Gorzelanny will be going for his career-high fourth straight victory.
By: Levi Convirs
MLBCenter.com St. Louis Cardinals Correspondent
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