CHICAGO -- A full Wrigley Field for the first time this season, celebrities and Hall of Famers in attendance. An early -- and rather comfortable -- lead. Some momentum in tow following the off-day. Friday afternoon in Chicago had all the makings of a statement victory for a Cardinals team trying to play catch-up in the NL Central and trying to reset its season back on the proper course.

And then, rapidly and unmercifully, it didn’t.

St. Louis, bitten by defensive miscues, hard contact and a bullpen that leaked at just the wrong moments, watched the Cubs rattle off seven unanswered runs and power to an 8-5 win in front of a packed crowd. It was the Cards’ third loss to its rival in four tries this young season, their ninth in their last 11 games and one that surrendered ground on the Cubs and Brewers, both of whom are cruising and battling atop the division.

From party poopers to excitement providers.

“Some days it doesn’t go your way,” said manager Mike Shildt. “We played a really good game day before yesterday, so I don’t want to look into the rear-view mirror too much, but we’ve played a lot of clean baseball. … We did a lot of great things today.”

Four of Chicago’s runs came on misplays, or close plays not made. Two alone emanated from Yadier Molina in the fifth -- a passed ball and snap throw to third that sailed into left field -- that ended starter Johan Oviedo’s afternoon, smooth sailing up until that point.

With Sergio Alcántara leaning off third, Molina tried to pull off another one of his staple throws to catch the runner off guard. It’s something he and Nolan Arenado have practiced many times in the past. This time, though, Molina’s throw sailed wide, off the third baseman’s glove and into the outfield.

“I feel comfortable doing that play in the past, I just have to catch the ball,” Arenado said. “I think I’m just rushing the play too quickly and trying to make things happen, but I have to catch the ball. Period.”

And another two runs came in the seventh, on a tough play for Tommy Edman but a catch he may have been able to make with a clean route, after a potential out deflected off Paul Goldschmidt’s mitt to start the frame and set up Joc Pederson’s game-winning two-run double.

Call it an abnormal day for a club that prides itself on its defense -- and feels its defense has held firm through the skid -- but has seen a few too many days go awry.

But those mishaps didn’t factor into Anthony Rizzo's 14-pitch at-bat against Daniel Ponce de Leon, capped off by a game-tying home run in the sixth. Nor the other homers hit by Pederson and Willson Contreras. Already, momentum had transferred from the upstart visitors to the 35,112 back watching a ballgame in person.

Positive signs still abound, the club believes, with crisp defense -- albeit not on display on Friday -- some bright spots from individuals needing a rebound and a pitcher like Oviedo executing a strike-throwing game plan far better, though his first Major League win still eludes him.

Before that fateful fifth, a fair amount of which was not his doing, Oviedo had 50 pitches on his ledger -- 36 of which were strikes.

“I always think I’m going to get that win,” Oviedo said. “... But my plan at the end of the day is to help the team out, get to five or six innings. When that ‘W’ comes I’ll be happy about it. My plan is to get better and keep working.”

Such bursts of positivity are why Shildt has kept an ambitious demeanor over the recent skid, proclaiming on Tuesday night that a hot stretch is just around the corner. The Cardinals responded with a win on Wednesday.

“Obviously, like I told you, if we weren’t playing clean, if we weren’t playing with effort or focus [we’d be concerned] -- but we are,” Shildt said. “We can’t say more than that. There are some positives, but I recognize it’s an end-result game.”

One other source of pride was merely a single combined free pass issued by six Cardinals pitchers on Friday, a leadoff walk by Oviedo in the fifth.

But as baseball would have it, that runner eventually came around to score as the first of the Cubs’ seven unanswered.