Bethancourt, Busch homer in 5-run 2nd inning as Cubs spoil Fedde’s debut with Cardinals
CHICAGO (AP) — Christian Bethancourt and Michael Busch homered in a five-run second inning and the Cubs spoiled the Cardinals’ debut of new acquisition Erick Fedde as Chicago stretched its winning streak to three games with a 6-3 victory over St. Louis on Friday.
Tyson Miller (3-1), the first of four relievers, earned the victory and Héctor Neris picked up his 15th save as Chicago won its third straight game against its NL Central rivals.
The Cubs’ big inning came against Fedde (7-5), who was acquired earlier in the week from the White Sox in a three-team trade.
“I had terrible command,” Fedde said of the second inning. “It brought me to long at-bats where I couldn’t put people away.”
The 31-year-old right-hander gave up the first five runs and six hits and finished with four strikeouts in five innings.
“We had a really good second inning and put pressure on them right away,” said Cubs manager Craig Counsell, whose team needed a three–run ninth to top the Cardinals a night earlier.
Rookie Pete Crow-Armstrong added an RBI single in the second before Bethancourt hit a three-run homer to right-center field.
“I was just trying to hit the ball in the gap,” Bethancourt said. “Thank God I got that one very well and hit it out of the park.”
Busch followed a batter later with a solo shot.
Seiya Suzuki scored from second in the eighth inning after Kyle Leahy’s errant pickoff throw dribbled into center field.
The Cardinals got all three runs by drawing bases-loaded walks. Paul Goldschmidt earned the first off Assad in the third, and Tommy Pham and Brendan Donovan got two-out passes in the eighth from Julian Merryweather and Neris, respectively. Neris struck out pinch-hitter Brandon Crawford to end the threat.
Masyn Winn added two hits for St. Louis, which has dropped five of its last eight games.
Cubs starter Javier Assad allowed four hits, walked three and struck out three in the opening four innings.
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CHICAGO — It felt like a moment that couldn’t even have been scripted. Just hours after the St. Louis Cardinals acquired Tommy Pham from the Chicago White Sox at the MLB trade deadline, the outfielder energized Busch Stadium in a way that hasn’t been felt all season.
In his first at-bat back with the team that drafted him in 2006, Pham got a standing ovation before he even stepped to the plate as a pinch hitter in the fifth inning Tuesday night. He earned a curtain call after he launched the fifth pitch he saw for a grand slam, helping put away the Texas Rangers in a 8-1 win.
The home run went viral, and the smile on the face of the normally intense Pham was undeniable.
“My best moment as a Cardinal,” Pham, who played parts of five seasons in St. Louis, told ESPN earlier this week. “The ovation was so welcoming. I had goosebumps with that ovation. And you can’t script the at-bat any better. I got down in the count and everything.
“I’ll remember it the rest of my life.”
So might Cardinals’ fans who — like their team — got a jolt from the front office’s trade deadline additions. Besides adding Pham, the team acquired one of the better available starting pitchers in Erick Fedde as well as veteran reliever Shawn Armstrong.
“Our shopping list was right-handed reliever, starter and a right-handed bat,” president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said. “We kept going down that path of [Tommy] Edman for Fedde but that’s just adding one and losing one. Never felt right. [Then] we got to the point that Pham was added to the deal.”
