Cubs Sweep Cardinals for 7th Straight Victory

The Chicago Cubs got off to an underachieving 1-6 start to the 2019 season, but since that time, they’ve made a complete reversal. The Cubs swept a three game series over the St. Louis Cardinals the weekend of May 3rd-5th for the club’s seventh straight win. The Cubs took over first place in the National League Central with the sweep, improving to 19-12 and a half game lead over the Cardinals.

Javier Baez, who finished 2nd in the 2018 N.L. MVP voting, is off to an MVP like start, batting .316 with 11 homers, 26 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.004. Jason Hayward, who has played stellar defense but has struggled at the plate since his arrival in 2016, is having a bounce back season with the bat and has a .305 average. Also making a comeback at the plate is catcher Willson Contreras, who is hitting .311 with 9 homers, 21 RBIs, and a 1.110 OPS.

The pitching was abysmal in the early going, but that has rebounded too. The Cubs picked up Cole Hamels from Texas last season and paid big bucks to keep him; he’s 3-0 with a 3.19 ERA. Jose Quintana gave up eight earned runs in his first start, but he now leads the club with a 4-1 record and has a 3.40 ERA. Kyle Hendricks pitched a complete game shutout against St. Louis in the first game of the series and appears to be coming around after his slow start. Jon Lester missed a couple of starts with hamstring issues but is 2-1 with a 1.73 ERA in five starts. Only Yu Darvish (2-3. 5.79) continues to disappoint, but he did miss most of last season with injuries, so he may still come around.

Here’s some highlights from the Cubs 13-5 rout from the May 5th game. The Cubs put up a big eight run eighth inning to put the game away.