CHICAGO — All the greats that have come and gone and gone to Cooperstown as Cardinals in the past eight decades never experienced anything like this.
Stan Musial did more things than any Cardinal has ever done or ever will do, and he never had a team that did this. Four of the men to manage the Cardinals in the past 60 years are in the Hall of Fame, and they never piloted a team that dispatched opponents with this regularity, this much certainty. The Swifties didn’t. The El Birdos didn’t. Whiteyball had one of the best runs of baseball ever — and didn’t run off a streak like this.
With a decisive, dominant doubleheader sweep of their archrivals, these 2021 Cardinals won their 14th consecutive game to match the club record, set in 1935.
The Cardinals got three home runs in Game 1 and weathered a late charge from the Cubs to win 8-5 Friday at Wrigley Field. There was no such drama in the nightcap. The Cardinals slugged five home runs, including two from rookie Lars Nootbaar, to trounce the Cubs, 12-4. The Cardinals shaved their magic number to four to clinch the National League’s second (and final) wild-card playoff berth. Two weeks ago they were four games out of the playoffs, an afterthought, not after any record except a winning one.
And then history happened.
A team feat gave them a chance to flex every aspect of their team and test new ones.
Jack Flaherty, a month removed from a shoulder injury, started Game 2 and got one out in his first look at competition since August. Dakota Hudson (1-0), a year removed from elbow surgery, pitched 3 2/3 innings in relief for Flaherty, did not walk a batter, and struck out two. Both could be factors for the Cardinals if this September surge makes them an October presence.
All around their notable appearances was more of the same from the Cardinals at their best. Defense when they needed it. Power abounding. Tyler O’Neill hit a home run in each half of the doubleheader to join Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado with at least 30 homers this season. O’Neill had five RBIs on the day, Goldschmidt four Friday to reach 97 for the season.
Alex Reyes snagged his 10th win in relief in Game 1, and closer Giovanny Gallegos collected his 13th save with two strikeouts and a flawless inning to finish Game 1.
The doubleheader sweep did come complete with a concern that will ripple into the weekend for the Cardinals (and maybe beyond). It will lead to some lineup reordering.
Shortstop Edmundo Sosa, a revelation at the position who has helped ignite the lower third of the Cardinals’ lineup, was struck on the right hand by a fastball in the sixth inning of Game 1. Sosa recoiled in pain, cradled the hammered hand, and then raced past a trainer and straight into the Cardinals’ dugout. His urgency revealed his sense of the severity. The ball struck Sosa on the palm and side of his hand, under his pinky.
X-rays taken at Wrigley did not reveal a fracture, and Sosa was able to meet with the Cubs’ team physician on site. The initial exam will be followed up with scans Saturday and a more penetrating look into the hand to see if there is undetected damage.
Sosa is expected to miss at least the weekend.
“Thankfully it looks like no fracture,” manager Mike Shildt said. “It was scary looking for sure. Three to five days. So that’s encouraging. Hopefully it continues to be encouraging, he heals fast, and gets back in there.”
Paul DeJong started the second game at shortstop for Sosa and true to the times homered and scored two runs as the Cardinals scored in five of the seven innings of Game 2.
The ’35 club’s 14-game winning streak included a sweep at Wrigley Field as well, one that featured two Hall of Fame starters for the Cardinals — Jesse Haines and Dizzy Dean. Those were the only two road games in their winning streak. The other 12 came in St. Louis. On the current streak, the Cardinals have swept series in Queens and in Milwaukee. And they’re gaining as their going — with the returns of two starters, Flaherty and Hudson (1-0).
Flaherty did not pitch much farther than he anticipated.
Three days after he threw 15 pitches in a simulated inning, he left Friday’s game after 19. He said he did not “predict” many more than 15, and the Cardinals were prepped for a short appearance. He faced four batters, got one out, and allowed a two-run homer to former Cardinals farmhand Patrick Wisdom. The velocity on his fastball steadied as he got into the first inning, and his breaking ball had the crispness to be expected of a pitcher who missed a month and did not see a rehab assignment.
While the Cardinals played somewhat coy this week with how they’d use Flaherty and Hudson, the short outing from Flaherty and extended relief from Hudson went according to design.
Earlier this month the Cardinals acknowledged the possibility of splitting games between them — “piggyback” in the parlance of pitching — and even this past week Shildt did not reject the description of Flaherty as a possible “opener.”
The goal is to have both pitchers get innings now, get roles as they go.
Having spent an entire month wheezing and groping for pitching depth, the Cardinals know the value of having more than a need. An essential element of the winning streak has been starts like they got in Game 1 Friday from a pitcher they added in late July just to “get through” the season, let alone make a historic run late in the season. Lefty J. A. Happ gave the Cardinals only four innings and did not qualify for the win in Game 1, but those four innings were essential to it. He didn’t leave an abundance of innings for the bullpen to absorb, didn’t drop a mess on their shoulders and head to the clubhouse.
Happ pitched four scoreless innings, allowed two hits, and when he put himself in jam — he got himself out of it.
In the fourth inning, he gifted two walks around a single to load the bases with one out. A meeting convened on the mound, and Happ remained there after it. The lefty tried to use a mix of changeups and sinkers to get a quick groundball and let his defense rescue him from the inning. When the Cubs’ hitters didn’t bite, Happ went to a pitch that had a little sizzle to it.
He struck out two Cubs, on 93- and 92-mph fastballs, to end the trouble.
“Just the way the ball was coming out I felt it felt good coming off my fingertips,” Happ said. “Felt like I was getting some good backspin on some of the four-seam fastballs. Trying to combo that with the two-seam. Felt like there was a good amount of desperation there. When it feels like that, you want to use that.”
The Cardinals had a 2-0 lead when Happ wriggled loose of the fourth inning. They would triple that lead in the fifth inning with a pair of two-run homers. Jose Rondon hit his second pinch-hit homer of the season — and second against the Cubs — and three batters later O’Neill cleared the left-field bleachers with a homer that reached Waveland. O’Neill first homer of the day was his 30th, and with Goldschmidt’s homer earlier in the game that gave the Cardinals three batters with at least 30 homers for only the second time in club history.
On their way to the team history, both games were flecked with the glitter of such personal numbers, too.
Yadier Molina’s 400th career double drove home the first two runs of Game 2 and gave him 997 and 998 RBIs in his career. In the third inning, Nootbaar ended his zero-for-21 stretch through September with a solo homer that appeared to land in the hands of a Cardinals fan. The ball was not chucked back onto the field, defying Wrigley tradition. Genesis Cabrera entered Game 2 in the fifth inning in relief of Hudson with the bases loaded and no outs. On eight pitches, the lefty retired all three batters he faced and allowed only one of the inherited runners to score.
Quite a way to mark his 100th career appearance.
Those numbers keep adding up bigger and bigger for the Cardinals.
