Waino owns tough day in London: 'That whole game was my fault'

LONDON -- In an effort to help MLB grow the game of baseball globally and further broaden their famed birds-on-the-bat brand, the Cardinals sacrificed two home games so that the 2023 MLB London Series could take place in front of thousands of potential new fans at London Stadium.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, many of the troubling issues that have made this a mostly forgettable, frustration-filled season also made the 4,200-mile journey across the Atlantic Ocean and reared their ugly heads in a 9-1 loss to the rival Cubs on Saturday afternoon.

• London Series a launchpad for growth of baseball internationally

This was the kind of baggage the Cardinals had hoped to leave behind for this first European foray. Spotty pitching -- in this instance from Adam Wainwright still searching for his once air-bending curveball -- more two-strike and two-out troubles, and an inability to string together timely hitting paved the way for a lopsided loss on an international stage. As one last point of emphasis, the Cardinals left their dugout as “Go Cubs Go” blared from the loudspeakers in what was technically a St. Louis home game.

“That’s what we’re all trying to figure out, and I don’t really know how to answer it,” said star slugger Paul Goldschmidt, whose sixth-inning single plated his team’s only run of the day, while referring to the Cardinals' struggles in putting together complete efforts. “We’ve done it at times when we were scoring a lot of runs over our last road trip, but today wasn’t that. To be pretty honest, we haven’t played as well as we need to on all sides of the ball -- pitching, defense and hitting.”

Saturday’s loss before a raucous crowd of 54,662 fans undoubtedly hit Wainwright the hardest. The 41-year-old starter, owner of some of the top moments in Cardinals history, eagerly wanted the ball for Saturday’s start and welcomed the pressure of the moment. However, little went right after the first inning for Wainwright, who surrendered two home runs to long-time nemesis Ian Happ, seven runs and 11 hits overall to the suddenly surging Cubs.

“I’m pretty sad about it, honestly, because I pitched terrible,” said Wainwright, who won his 198th career game a week earlier in New York against the Mets and hoped to carry that momentum into London. “We’re trying to make [new] Cardinals fans and we didn’t make any today, and that’s because of me. It’s 2-1 without me in the game, so that whole game was my fault.”

• Best moments from London Series Game 1

The loss came at a time when the Cardinals -- last in the National League Central much of the past six weeks following a 10-24 start to the season -- had started to play better baseball. St. Louis took two of three from both the Mets and Nationals prior to heading to London, but Saturday proved to be a jarring reminder of the work that the Cardinals must do to jump the four teams ahead of them in the NL Central standings. St. Louis has a streak of 15 consecutive winning seasons very much in jeopardy.

“It’s tough to not look ahead a little bit, but we’ve won the past two series and if we win tomorrow, we’ll split with these guys,” said Tommy Edman, who doubled ahead of Goldschmidt and scored the Cards' lone run. “The bigger thing is focusing series to series and making sure that we’re winning more than we’re losing.”

The day started with bad news as the Cardinals announced that Jack Flaherty -- the second-most senior pitcher on the staff to Wainwright -- would be unable to start Sunday’s Game 2 in London because of right hip stiffness. Also, closer Jordan Hicks and lefty slugger Nolan Gorman were unable to play because of an illness sweeping through the team in recent days.

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Rookie left-hander Matthew Liberatore, who surrendered five runs in four innings last Sunday in New York, will start in place of Flaherty.

“Every one’s important,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of the games remaining for his 31-45 club. “Obviously, winning [on Sunday] is extremely important. We wanted to take both these, but we dropped the first one and we’ve got to move on to tomorrow.”

The Cubs had 11 hits before the Cardinals notched their first knock against Chicago's lefty starter, Justin Steele. Cardinals star rookie Jordan Walker drove a grounder through the left side in the fifth inning for St. Louis' first hit of the day. It pushed Walker’s hit streak to 14 games -- the most by a Cardinals hitter 21 or younger since Albert Pujols had a hit in 17 straight games in 2001.

On Saturday, Wainwright dejectedly left the clubhouse feeling he disappointed teammates and the members of Cardinal Nation who packed the seats inside of London Stadium.

“I know I let a lot of people down today -- inside this clubhouse and outside,” he said. “I’ll just wear it, own it and move on.”