Cardinals rally for 7-5 win over the Cubs to split London series
LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 25: Nolan Arenado #28 and Lars Nootbaar #21 of the St. Louis Cardinals celebrate winning the 2023 London Series game between the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals at London Stadium on Sunday, June 25, 2023 in London, Eng
LONDON - Paul Goldschmidt hit a go-ahead RBI single that chased Chicago starter Marcus Stroman in the fourth inning and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cubs 7-5 on Sunday to earn a split of their weekend series at London Stadium.
The Cubs missed a chance to get back to .500 after Stroman (9-5) left the game with a blister on his right index finger, and the Cardinals ended a two-game skid after an error-filled first inning handed the Cubs a 4-0 lead.
The Cubs (37-39) won 9-1 in the first game but had their winning streak halted at four games. They haven’t been at .500 since May 12, though they’ve still won 11 of their past 14 games.
Jordan Hicks, who sat out Saturday because of illness, got the final three outs to record his fourth save — all in the past eight days. He struck out two and gave up a sacrifice fly to Nico Hoerner with one out.
The Cardinals bullpen allowed one run over 6 2/3 innings before a crowd of 55,565 with the temperature at 87 degrees at the start.
Jake Woodford (2-2) came in for spot starter Matthew Liberatore in the third and pitched 2 1/3 innings.
COMEBACK
The Cardinals (32-45) erased a 4-0 deficit with timely hitting and a big assist from Cubs first baseman Trey Mancini.
With the bases loaded in the second, Stroman struck out Paul DeJong for the second out. Tommy Edman then grounded to second but Hoerner’s underhanded toss to Mancini was dropped by the first baseman when he tried to grab it with his bare hand — allowing Willson Contreras to score to make it 4-1. Stroman smacked his mitt in frustration.
Brendan Donovan hit a two-run single to right field on a sinker — batters swung at 17 Stroman sinkers and missed just three — scoring Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker, who beat the throw with a head-first slide to make it 4-3.
An inning later, the Cards pulled even at 4-4 on Walker’s single that scored Lars Nootbaar.
Goldschmidt put the "home" team ahead in the fourth on a sharp single off Stroman that scored Edman.
Stroman was then pulled and the team said the NL ERA leader had a blister on his right index finger. The first batter reliever Michael Fulmer faced was Nootbaar, whose sacrifice fly scored Donovan for a 6-4 lead.
An inning later, the Cards made it 7-4 when Gorman’s single to left off Fulmer drove in Contreras.
EARLY GAFFES
The Cardinals handed Stroman a 4-0 lead before he even took the mound by committing two infield errors in the top of the first inning — not helping Liberatore, who took Jack Flaherty’s place.
Hoerner led off and reached on an error by DeJong at short and moved to third by stealing second and advancing on an error by Gorman at second.
Liberatore struck out Christopher Morel looking for the second out.
Dansby Swanson singled to score Hoerner. Ian Happ walked and Mancini then hit a two-run double, crunching a 95 mph pitch off the wall in the left-center gap — it might have sailed out in 2019 when the walls were closer — and came around to make it 4-0 when Miguel Amaya doubled on a hard shot past third baseman Nolan Arenado that originally was ruled an error.
Stroman allowed six runs, three earned, and eight hits and had two strikeouts and a walk. Liberatore lasted 2 1/3 innings.
MORE ROYALTY
After the Cubs hyped their " royalty " Bill Murray on Saturday, the Cardinals countered with John Goodman a day later. Goodman sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and dedicated it to Harry Caray.
FAME GAME
The Baseball Hall of Fame collected a few items from the London games. Cubs outfielder Ian Happ donated the batting gloves he wore when he hit two homers on Saturday. Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt donated the cap he wore Saturday when he became the first big leaguer to play a regular-season game in five countries.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cubs: Cody Bellinger returned after being out sick on Saturday.
Cardinals: Gorman was in the lineup after sitting out a day with an illness. RHP Flaherty had been scratched from his scheduled start Sunday with hip tightness and manager Oliver Marmol said there are bullpen options should he miss another turn in the rotation.
UP NEXT
The teams have Monday off to recover from the trip and both begin six-game homestands Tuesday. The Cubs host the Philadelphia Phillies. The Cardinals host the Houston Astros.