ChicagoThe Chicago Cubs crushed the St. Louis Cardinals 11-3 on Friday for their fourth consecutive victory, with three home runs from Michael Busch, two from Pete Crow-Armstrong, and an all-time franchise-high eight home runs.
Busch had five RBIs and went 4 for 4. Dansby Swanson hit a two-run homer and Crow-Armstrong went four for four as part of a Cubs power outburst that sent the 40,038-strong crowd at Wrigley Field into a frenzy.
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The NL Central leaders launched six home runs in the first three innings off Miles Mikolas (4-6), setting a record for the most home runs off a Cardinals pitcher in a single game, with additional solo bombs from Seiya Suzuki and Carson Kelly. A club mark was also broken by the eight longballs that St. Louis gave up.
The Cardinals had gone 31 innings without scoring until Brendan Donovan hit a home run off Colin Rea to start the fourth inning. St. Louis, which suffered its fourth consecutive defeat, had been shut out in its three prior games.
Rea (6-3) had his longest outing of the season with only one hit given up in 6 2/3 innings.
Mikolas (4-6) lost his fourth consecutive game after being pounded for eight runs and ten hits in six innings.
Crow-Armstrong hit his first home run of the game in the first inning after Suzuki hit his team-leading 24th homer. In the second, Busch and Kelly drove consecutively, giving Chicago a 4-0 lead and nine sets of back-to-back home runs this season.
In the third, Crow-Armstrong hit his 23rd home run off the right-field video board at Wrigley Field. Busch scored a two-run home run to make it 7-0 after Swanson singled.
Jon Berti, an infielder with the Cubs, pitched the ninth and gave up two runs.
Crucial moment
After hitting his first career three-homer deep in the eighth, Busch circled the bases and pumped his hands to the crowd.
Important statistic
Crow-Armstrong hit five home runs in his career, including his fourth this season. This week, it was decided to start the All-Star Game with the 23-year-old center fielder.
Next up
The Cardinals will start LHP Matthew Liberatore (6-6, 3.70 ERA) on Saturday. The Cubs’ bullpen game is started by LHP Drew Pomeranz (2-1, 0.00).
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