ST. LOUIS – The Cubs’ 10-3 win against the Cardinals on Thursday took a bizarre turn early in the game.
In a scary moment in the first inning, Cubs three-hole hitter Ian Happ hit Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras in the head on his back swing. Contreras’ helmet flew off, and he fell to his knees. His hands flew to the cut on his scalp.
Cardinals athletic trainers rushed to help him address the bleeding and led him off the field. On Contreras’ way to the dugout, Happ gave his former teammate a hug.
Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas threw the next two pitches inside, hitting Happ with the second. The umpires converged for a discussion before ejecting Mikolas from the game. Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol protested the decision and was also thrown out.
Forced to go to the bullpen early, the Cardinals called on right-hander Dakota Hudson, who threw a season-high 4 ⅓ innings.
The Cubs used Happ’s free pass as a jumping off point for a two-out rally. Cody Bellinger and Seiya Suzuki loaded the bases with a single and a walk. Then, Dansby Swanson drew four straight balls to push the first run of the game across the plate. Christopher Morel drove in two runs with an automatic double that bounced over the left-field wall.
That three-run first inning set the tone for the offense, which scored seven-plus runs for the fifth straight game.
Getting creative
The Cubs are getting creative as they try to help lefty Drew Smyly out of a mid-season slump.
Smyly’s turn in the rotation is set to come up Friday, and the Cubs’ probable starter was yet again listed as “TBD.” Manager David Ross declined to name Friday’s starter before the game Thursday.
Smyly, whose ERA has risen from 2.60 to 4.60 over the past month, was set to face the Cardinals in back-to-back outings.
“We’re trying to maximize every small advantage we feel like we can put on paper,” Ross said. “That doesn’t always translate to in-game success. But we are trying to pull some of those levers that help us in the pre-matchup on-paper situations and see how it plays out.”
Last week, using Michael Fulmer as an opener for Smyly didn’t produce the intended results. But the thought process was easy to follow. Smyly has experience coming out of the bullpen, and sticking a right-hander in front of him could produce more favorable matchups.
“I don’t know if it’s a long-term thing that we feel like we’re going to go to consistently,” Ross said, “but we’re definitely trying to maximize that in this one moment, playing a team eight times within 11 days and a heavy right-handed base lineup that’s hit lefties really well.”
After this two-outing experiment, the Cubs are expected to reevaluate their plan for the veteran lefty and could put him back into a more traditional starting role. They’ll weigh several factors, including his performance as he continues to implement adjustments to his approach.