Cubs use their new-look offense to win in return to St. Louis
It feels like the Cubs have been building up to this night since the start of last season.
They've been emphasizing contact and versatility, and Friday's 12-3 victory in St. Louis featured a little bit of everything on offense.
They made plenty of contact, collecting 12 hits; they were patient at the plate, drawing 6 walks; they were aggressive on the bases and there was one moment of slug, when Joc Pederson homered on the first pitch of the game.
The Cubs are now 11-5 in their last 16 games, with all five losses coming by 1 run. They also closed within 2 games of the Cardinals for first place in the NL Central.
Team president Jed Hoyer talked about the offensive changes this week.
"We've been putting the ball in play more," he said. "I think that's been a challenge for us historically, striking out and relying too much on homers to score. Homers are great, but you have to have more than one club in your bag as far as scoring runs."
Strikeouts, inability to hit quality pitchers and failing to manufacture runs has been a common denominator in the Cubs' early exits the past three years.
"Especially in Wrigley, I think that was really important," Hoyer said. "We're going to have series where the wind's blowing in. You're not going to hit a ton of homers in that weather and you're going to have to score in different ways. I think it's important given the profile of Wrigley Field that you can score in many ways."
Older Cubs fans would probably stand up and applaud that statement. The Cubs roster in the 1970s and 1980s usually was built for home runs, but they played half their games in gigantic concrete bowls covered in artificial turf. Not to mention if the wind is blowing in at Wrigley 50% of the time, the home run isn't a very useful skill.
Friday's game in St. Louis began as a pitchers' duel, with Kyle Hendricks working into the seventh inning clinging to a 1-run lead. Then the Cubs erupted for 8 runs in the top of the eighth to break it open.
Ian Happ led the way with 3 hits. Anthony Rizzo and Nico Hoerner had 2 hits each, while Pederson, Rizzo, Kris Bryant and David Bote had 2 RBI.
Hendricks (4-4) gave up just 1 earned run in 6⅔ innings, while throwing 83 pitches. That's at least three of his last four starts where Hendricks has been more like his old self, although Ross sees it differently.
"To me, that's four in a row," Ross said. "I still go back to the Pittsburgh one, a lot of soft contact. I thought he threw the ball really well. We're going to need him to be that version of him throughout the season for us to have success for sure."
The Cubs hadn't played a game in St. Louis since the final games of the 2019 season. The teams were scheduled for just three games in St. Louis in 2020, they were canceled due to COVID issues and rescheduled for Wrigley Field.
"We missed this place last year, right?" Ross said. "It definitely felt more like the norm of a baseball season with a pretty big crowd, weekend series, they're in first place, we're in second. It felt like a normal, big rivalry series in St. Louis. It felt good."
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls