The St. Louis Cardinals continued their winning ways, topping the Chicago Cubs on Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals have now set the franchise record with their 15th consecutive win. The 1935 ballclub held the previous record. They will attempt to wrap up their fourth consecutive sweep on Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals remain well short of the major league record for consecutive wins, which is held by the 1916 New York Giants (26).
Offense Fuels Cardinals’ Record Win
The Cardinals’ offense has been a force throughout the streak. They scored eight runs on Saturday. It was the eighth time in the last 15 games that they have plated eight or more. Harrison Bader was the star of the game, going 4-for-4 with three runs scored, two RBI, a home run, and two stolen bases.
The winning streak has been driven by late inning production in particular, and Saturday’s game was no exception. The Cubs led the Cardinals 4—2 entering the seventh inning. The offense rallied to take a 5–4 lead. In the eighth inning, Bader stretched a single into a double, stole third, and scored on a third strike that got away from the catcher. Paul DeJong hit a two-run home run to extend the lead to 8–4. It’s their fourth game in a row with three or more runs in the last three innings of the game.
The Cardinals once again received a strong showing from their bullpen. Despite plenty of traffic on the base paths, they allowed only a single run after Jon Lester exited the game following the fifth inning.
During the seventh inning rally, Yadier Molina recorded his 2,111th career hit to move past Rogers Hornsby into third on the Cardinals’ all-time list. He trails only Stan Musial and Lou Brock who are both members of the 3,000 hit club.
The Cardinals’ magic number for the second Wild Card is now at three.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
Players Mentioned:
Harrison Bader, Paul DeJong, Jon Lester, Yadier Molina, Rogers Hornsby, Stan Musial, Lou Brock
