Yan Gomes came off the injured list to club a two-run home run, Patrick Wisdom also hit a two-run bomb and Justin Steele went six innings to stay unbeaten as the Chicago Cubs routed the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 10-4 on Wednesday night.
Out since May 1 with a concussion, Gomes belted his sixth homer in the fourth inning and followed with two more hits as the Cubs capped a 3-3 homestand. Wisdom’s 12th of the season came with a man on in the third and erased a 2-1 St. Louis edge.
Dansby Swanson and Christopher Morel each had two hits with two RBIs, and Steele (6-0) surrendered three runs — ending his run of 14 straight starts allowing two or fewer earned runs — with seven hits and three walks.
The Cardinals’ season-high three-game win streak ended as Jordan Montgomery (2-5) was tagged for six runs on seven hits and three walks in five innings. St. Louis’ two biggest stars got to Steele in the first when Paul Goldschmidt singled with one out and scored on Nolan Arenado’s two-out triple. Ex-Cub Willson Contreras hit an RBI single in the third to make it 2-0.
After stranding the bases loaded in the second, Chicago came through in the third. Swanson delivered a ground-rule double and scored on Seiya Suzuki’s own double. Wisdom followed with his drive into the left-center field bleachers off Montgomery, who had thrown 24 consecutive scoreless innings against the Cubs.
Gomes’ long ball followed a leadoff walk to Trey Mancini in the fourth. Gomes had just eight homers in 86 games last season for Chicago.
The Cubs made it 6-2 in the fifth when Ian Happ (two hits) doubled and scored on Wisdom’s double play grounder.
St. Louis got a run in the sixth on Lars Nootbaar’s RBI single. However, in the bottom of the frame, Morel sent an RBI double off the right-center field ivy, then Swanson’s second double plated two for a 9-3 Cubs’ advantage.
Paul DeJong, who had two hits for the Cardinals, scored on Tommy Edman’s single in the ninth.
–Field Level Media
