Mills mashed early as Cubs lose Game 1 to Cards
The early game of Wednesday's doubleheader was over quick for the Cubs.
Four batters into the game the Cardinals led 4-0. A hit batsman, single and walk loaded the bases for Matt Carpenter, who parked an Alec Mills pitch into left-center field for a grand slam.
Nothing really changed the rest of the way. St. Louis kept adding runs and won the opener 9-3 at Wrigley Field.
"It just look like a command issue for me," Cubs manager David Ross said of Mills' performance on the mound. "It didn't look like he had any command of his secondary stuff early on. So he was trying to pitch with the two- and the four-seam fastball. Just looked like he couldn't get his rhythm today and that's a good-hitting team if you limit yourself to a couple pitches."
Mills managed to last until the fourth inning, but gave up 6 earned runs. The Cardinals tacked on 3 more against relievers Duane Underwood and Jason Adam.
After starting the season with two wins, Mills has given up 10 earned runs in his last two starts.
"Just one of those days, where I didn't really have the feel for much out there today," Mills said. "I wasn't able to throw many pitches for strikes. Fastball command wasn't as good as it has been. Made an all-right pitch to Carpenter, he just did what he's supposed to. Not good."
The Cubs offense managed to bookend just 2 hits in the game - a leadoff homer by Ian Happ in the first, and a 2-run homer from Josh Phegley with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
The Cubs did load the bases in both the second and third innings on walks and hit batsmen, but couldn't get a clutch hit.
As they've been doing all series, the Cardinals changed pitchers frequently, using five guys on the mound over the seven innings.