Cardinals 8, Cubs 4: This space intentionally left blank

It wears on you, day after day writing recaps of losses to the Cardinals.

Hey, here’s a dumb dad joke: Since the Cubs lost 8-0 on Friday and 8-4 on Saturday, does that mean they will at least be good enough to force an 8-8 tie sometime during Sunday’s game?

Told you it was dumb.

Anyway, you came here for a recap and by gum, you will get one.

The Cubs actually took an early multiple-run lead in this game. Blink and you probably missed it, but here’s how they did that against Adam Wainwright.

Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ singled with one out in the first inning, and then this single by Franmil Reyes made it 1-0 [VIDEO].

After Nico Hoerner hit into a force play, advancing Happ to third, Nico stole second.

That put two runners in scoring position and Rafael Ortega brought them both home [VIDEO].

3-0! First inning! What could possibly...

Well, you know the answer to that. A walk and a home run by Paul Goldschmidt off Drew Smyly in the bottom of the first brought St. Louis back to within 3-2, and then Smyly, who had a fantastic August, completely fell apart in his first September start in the third inning.

A pair of solo homers, by Tommy Edman and Tyler O’Neill, gave St. Louis a 4-3 lead. A single and a couple of walks loaded the bases, and Jeremiah Estrada replaced Smyly. Yadier Molina smacked a double to center that cleared the bases and made it 7-3, and then Molina added insult to injury by stealing third base, where he scored on a sacrifice fly.

That was it for Cardinals scoring, so I guess I can give a few props to Mark Leiter Jr., Rowan Wick, Erich Uelmen and Luke Farrell, who threw five scoreless innings. So, yay? Only two of those four pitches are likely to be members of the 2023 Cubs, so... draw your own conclusions.

In the fifth, the Cubs made it 8-4. Ian Happ doubled, his 36th of the season. Reyes drove him in with this single [VIDEO].

8-4 in the fifth... maybe? Nah. The Cubs had just three more baserunners the rest of the game, on a double by Yan Gomes in the sixth, Happ being hit by a pitch in the seventh and a walk drawn by Nelson Velázquez in the eighth. The latter two runners were erased on double plays. The Cardinals turned four of those in this game.

Here, have one more Cubs highlight, a nice diving catch by Happ in the eighth [VIDEO].

That’s all I’ve got for this one, and I realize this recap is pretty short, but you really don’t want more on this game, do you? Here, one last not-so-fun fact: The Cubs won four of the first six games they played against the Cardinals this year. Since then they are 2-10 against them.

The final Cubs/Cardinals game of 2022 will take place Sunday afternoon, weather permitting. Marcus Stroman will start for the Cubs and Miles Mikolas will go for St. Louis. Game time is 1:15 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network. The game preview here will post at 11:30 a.m. CT.