ST. LOUIS -- What has turned into a frustrating May that saw the Cubs go 13-16 ended with, perhaps fittingly, a frustrating loss.
Chicago starter Jordan Wicks lasted just two-plus innings as the North Siders dropped the rubber game of a three-game series, 5-1, to the Cardinals on Sunday night. He allowed three runs on four hits and struck out one of the 10 batters he faced.
Cubs manager Craig Counsell said the plan going in was to treat Sunday like a bullpen game with an off-day on Monday.
In Wicks’ two starts since being recalled from Triple-A Iowa on May 24, he is 0-2 with a 15.63 ERA.
“One really bad inning in Pittsburgh, I mean, outside of that, I don't really think I've thrown the ball terribly,” Wicks said. “I haven't gotten great results, but you know, if you get consumed with the results in this [game], it'll drive you nuts. I've got to control what I can control and focus on that and hope to just continue to execute pitches. ... Hopefully, eventually the tides will turn.”
Wicks was more competitive from the jump, unlike his last start against the Pirates when he allowed five runs in the first. But though the pitches were more competitive, the results were not.
The Cardinals didn’t exactly barrel any balls, but still managed to scratch out a pair of runs in a frustrating first inning for the left-hander.
“I thought I made decent pitches,” Wicks said. “I mean, just kind of got singled to death in the first inning. You could be frustrated by it, but at the end of the day, there's really not a whole lot I can do about that. I just tried to keep making pitches after that, and I felt like I controlled my emotions well, slowed the game down a lot better than I did previously.”
Trouble started after JJ Wetherholt guided a 1-2 offering weakly past the third-base bag on a ball that left his bat at just 70.9 mph, per Statcast. Iván Herrera and Jordan Walker followed with opposite-field singles to make it 1-0, and Herrera scored when an Alec Burleson bloop fell between the mound and second base.
"I thought he made a pretty good pitch to Wetherholt, and that's just kind of bad luck there,” Counsell said. “It was a good swing, it was good hitting. But the rally starts then, and they had a couple good swings after that, you know, and we're a little behind the eight ball from the start.”
Wicks’ night ended after allowing a leadoff infield single to Wetherholt in the third. The Cubs’ frustrations continued with a Herrera single that just missed Dansby Swanson’s glove, and another Burleson bloop found the outfield grass in short left field, scoring Wetherholt. Masyn Winn capped the rally with a two-run single off Ethan Roberts to give the Cardinals a 5-0 lead.
“We caught a bad break with the Burleson popup,” Counsell said. “Unfortunately, just put in the right place, nothing you can do about that.”
Chicago’s bullpen did provide a lift as Trent Thornton, Phil Maton and Ryan Rolison combined for five scoreless innings from the fourth inning on.
But the Cubs’ bats couldn’t get going against Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore. After allowing back-to-back singles to Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong to start the game, Liberatore retired 16 of the next 18 batters he faced until being lifted after getting Crow-Armstrong to fly out to begin the sixth.
Alex Bregman gave the offense a jolt by greeting reliever Hunter Dobbins with a 404-foot homer right after Liberatore was lifted. The blast extended Bregman’s hitting streak to 11 games, five shy of his career high set in 2024 with Houston.
The Cubs had a chance to get back in it in the seventh after Michael Conforto’s pinch-hit double put runners on second and third with one out, but Dobbins wiggled out of the jam by striking out Swanson and getting Hoerner to ground out.
“Offensively, I thought we swung the bats better than one run. ... But you know, we hit a lot of balls at people and we ended up with just one run,” Counsell said.
After winning their first eight games in May, the Cubs (32-28) ended the month with a 13-16 record. They are 0-6-1 in their last seven series and have not won a series since sweeping Cincinnati May 4-7, something they hope to change starting Tuesday against the Athletics back home at Wrigley Field.