Chicago Cubs Score and Recap (7/13/24, Game 1): Cardinals 11, Cubs 3 – Wesneski Far From Wesnasty in Blowout Loss

The Cubs’ streak of impressive starting pitching performances came to a screeching halt at Busch Stadium Saturday afternoon when the Cardinals scored nine 1st-inning runs on Hayden Wesneski. The young Chicago hurler had no one to blame but himself after he committed two errors in the frame that made seven of the tallies unearned. Unsurprisingly, St. Louis easily took home the victory after the opening fireworks.

Seiya Suzuki briefly gave the North Siders a lead with a solo home run off of Lance Lynn in the top of the 1st. The wheels came off immediately for Wesneski in the bottom half with three consecutive singles to tie the score. Then he tried to start a double play on a comebacker and fired the ball way over second into center field.

That mistake was quickly followed by a couple more misplays from third baseman Miles Mastrobuoni and Wesneski again to make it 3-1. The floodgates opened from there and Alec Burleson eventually provided the coup de grâce with a three-run homer that put the Cardinals ahead 9-1.

The rest of the game was academic after the implosion in the opening frame with St. Louis eventually winning 11-3. (Box score)

Key Moment

The Cubs had three consecutive plays in the 1st inning that each should have resulted in at least one out and they did not secure one on any of them. Even if they had recorded just one out, they would have ended the frame down 3-1.

Why the Cubs Lost

This was a rare bad starting pitching effort and the defense, especially from the starter himself, didn’t help.

Stats That Matter

• Things started moving way too fast on Wesneski in that opening inning and he never really recovered. Ironically, his own errors made most of his runs unearned: 4 IP, 11 R, 4 ER, 10 H, 4 K, and 1 BB.
• David Bote pitched the 8th inning as the Cubs tried to save their bullpen for game two.

Bottom Line

If there is any good news from that ugly loss, it’s that they get a chance to atone for it in about three hours. Hopefully, it was just one bad start and the Cubs can get right back on track.

On Deck

The aforementioned game two begins at 7:15pm CT. Javier Assad is back from injury to face Kyle Gibson with the usual broadcast on Marquee and 670 The Score.