Cubs Gashed Late By Cardinals, Fall 7-6 Despite Rally in St. Louis

In the bottom of the sixth, the Cardinals found an answer for the Cubs lead. Nolan Gorman reached on a single then stole second base. Setting himself up in scoring position, Gorman was driven in by Masyn Winn and his 10th double of the campaign to tie the game once again. 

Back and forth it went. In the top of the seventh, Busch reached on a fielding error and Dansby Swanson drew a walk to put two men on for former Cardinal Patrick Wisdom. Wisdom's fourth double of the season scored Busch and moved Swanson to third. Although the Cubs could not add more, they had the lead once again. 

Things were looking good for the Cubs, as they reached the bottom of the eighth with their lead intact. With Mark Leiter Jr. on the bump, confidence was high. That was, until things went south. 

Leiter Jr. allowed two singles, then proceeded to get two quick outs. That said, a pinch-hitting Matt Carpenter killed the Cubs once again. His single, after review on the tag, tied the game at 4-4. Brendan Donovan then came up big with a single to score the pair of runners on base. With a 6-4 lead, the Cardinals got one final insurance run via a Lars Nootbaar triple. 

It was Leiter Jr.'s worst appearance of the season and to make matters worse, every run came with two outs. Prior to this appearance, the righty only gave up two earned runs the whole season. 

Ryan Hensley came on to close out the game in the top of the ninth, but the Cubs did not make it easy for him. Swanson and Nick Madrigal led the inning off with singles before Ian Happ's pop out. From there, Tauchman singled to score Swanson, and Cody Bellinger singled two batters later to score Madrigal. In addition, Tauchman advanced to third, leaving the tying run 90-feet away from home plate. 

Unfortunately, Christopher Morel grounded into a force out, closing out the win for the Cardinals. It was a tough outing for the Cubs and a hard pill to swallow. The 7-6 loss drops the Cubs to 27-25 on the season and 3.5 games back of the Milwaukee Brewers in the division standings. 

Spiraling at the Wrong Time

With the bats having been nonexistent for the last 10+ games, it was nice to see the bats come alive to the tune of six runs on Saturday night. However, that naturally occurs when Mark Leiter Jr. has his worst appearance of the season. The Cubs came up just short despite doing enough to win the game. 

The Cubs are spiraling at the wrong time. The Cardinals are now just two games back of the Cubs for second place in the NL Central, and the Brewers are now 3.5 games up on the Cubbies. With one final game in St. Louis on Sunday, the Cubs need to find a way to win and carry their momentum into Monday's series opener with the Brewers. Now is not the time to find ways to lose games. 

Javier Assad will need to be the stopper, as the Cubs elected to ultimately skip Shota Imanaga's start after Friday's postponement. There is no better time for Assad to pitch a gem and the Cubs' bats to pick up where they left off on Saturday. 

What's On Tap Next?

The Cubs wrap the series with the Cardinals on Sunday as they look to split the unnatural two-game set. The 6:10 p.m. CDT first pitch on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball will feature Assad for the Cubbies and Sonny Gray for the Red Birds.