Willson Contreras collected four hits and the St. Louis Cardinals overcame an early four-run deficit to record a 7-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday in London.
Paul Goldschmidt delivered a go-ahead RBI single in the fourth and five Cardinals relievers limited the Cubs to just one run over 6 2/3 innings.
St. Louis dropped a 9-1 decision on Saturday and trailed 4-0 after an inning Sunday before igniting its bats against Chicago ace Marcus Stroman (9-5). Stroman yielded six runs (three earned) and eight hits before exiting with one out in the fourth due to a blister on his throwing hand.
It was in that fourth inning in which the Cardinals broke a 4-4 tie on Goldschmidt’s run-scoring single to right off Stroman. St. Louis seized a 6-4 lead on Lars Nootbaar’s sacrifice fly. Following a double from ex-Cub Contreras in the fifth, Nolan Gorman’s second hit made it 7-4.
Chicago, which saw its four-game winning streak come to a halt, took advantage of some shoddy Cardinals’ defense to score four runs in the first against starter Matthew Liberatore.
Nico Hoerner reached on shortstop Paul DeJong’s error, stole second and went to third after Gorman failed to corral the throw from catcher Contreras. He scored on Dansby Swanson’s single. Trey Mancini split the gap in left to score two runs, then came home on Miguel Amaya’s double.
None of those runs were earned by Liberatore, who completed 2 1/3 innings while stepping in after Jack Flaherty (hip) was scratched. However, St. Louis rallied to take the left-hander off the hook, and Jake Woodford (2-2), Genesis Cabrera, Giovanny Gallegos, Andre Pallante and Jordan Hicks stymied Chicago hitters.
St. Louis, meanwhile, got within a run in the second inning after Mancini failed to grab Hoerner’s toss off Tommy Edman’s bouncer to second with the bases loaded.
Brendan Donovan then followed with a two-run single. The Cardinals tied it the third after Jordan Walker extended his hitting streak to 15 games with an RBI single.
–Field Level Media