Cards suffer lost weekend courtesy of Cubs

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The Cubs continue to be white hot, sweeping the Cardinals in a three game weekend series.  The series featured some things old and some things new in the Cubs repertoire.  The Cubs 13-5 win over the Cardinals on Sunday gives them a half game lead over the Cardinals in the NL Central.  Starting pitching, relief pitching and hitting, the Cubs flashed elements of all those things over the weekend.  Here’s a recap starting with Friday.

Friday was a school day

In Friday’s 4-0 Cubs win, Kyle Hendricks was the story.  The Professor schooled the Cards, going nine shutout innings and using only 81 pitches to do it.  The bulk of the Cubs offensive came courtesy of an Anthony Rizzo three run homer.  Javy Baez added a solo shot in the seventh to finish the scoring.

When Hendricks is on his game like he was Friday he’s a joy to behold.  If Kyle can sustain his groove it bodes well for the Cubs. 

Darvish spared a loss by his Taylor

Saturday’s game was a little more uncomfortable for Cubs fans.  Yu Darvish started for the Cubs and was Bad Yu in this one.  Darvish went four innings while giving up all five Cardinal runs.  Darvish walked five.  His pitch selection just seems bizarre at times.  There’s just too much talent and money there to give up on Darvish easily.

The story of Saturday’s game was the grand slam homer by backup catcher, Taylor Davis, to tie the score at 5-5.  Javy Baez’s solo homer in the eighth provided the winning run.  Baez homered on a pitch up and away.  The fact he’s able to get on top of a pitch like that is remarkable.

Maddon breaks out a six pack of relievers

Six Cubs relievers gave the Cubs five innings of scoreless relief.  Kyle Ryan worked out of a bases loaded jam in the fifth to quell the Cardinals biggest threat after the game was tied.  Pedro Strop pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his fourth save.

Bryant's slam is more than icing on the cake

Jose Quintana gave the Cubs another quality start, going six innings and allowing two runs in Sunday’s 13-5 win.   The Cubs led 3-2 after 5 and a half innings.  They then scored three in the sixth, one in the seventh and six in the eighth.  Willson Contreras started the Cubs offense with a solo home run in the second and Kris Bryant finished it with a grand slam in the eighth.  That may be the biggest development of the game.

The Cubs have now won seven in a row.  They’re clearly hitting on all cylinders.  The question is, how long can they sustain it?