Cards solve Cubs with 3 homers behind Kim

At the first crack of the bat, it was a marvel. By the second, it was a strategic win for the manager. At the third, it was a boon -- a feast day for a Cardinals offense searching desperately for the homer amid this skid dating back to the start of June.

Starkly different but equally impactful home runs from Paul Goldschmidt, Tommy Edman and Paul DeJong -- all in the fifth inning at Wrigley Field on Saturday -- propelled the Cardinals to a 6-0 win over the Cubs, their second in eight tries against their rivals this season, on the back of a shutout led by Kwang Hyun Kim.

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It was the Cardinals’ first three-homer game since June 9, only their second since the start of June. All three happened to come in a single frame -- the first time they’ve done so at Wrigley since August 2006.

“Three home runs is good,” Goldschmidt said.

The homers were important enough in a vacuum, helping a sputtering offense pick up their first win at Wrigley this season. But broken down, they provide even more positives to glean.

Goldschmidt’s was the 19th of his career against the Cubs and his seventh at the Friendly Confines, and it left the ballpark on the fly onto Waveland Avenue.

Edman’s homer came after an aggressive substitution by manager Mike Shildt, recognizing the matchup with lefty Adam Morgan on the mound and calling the switch-hitting Edman to pinch-hit for Matt Carpenter. It was the third homer from Edman in 73 at-bats from the right side, compared to two this season in 288 from the left.

And for DeJong, it was his second straight day with a two-run homer into the Wrigley Field baskets, with his mom making the road trip down from Wisconsin to be in attendance for this one, amid a trying season for the former All-Star.

All resembled positive signs for a Cardinals team hungry for any as they enter the break. And tack on one more: 44 fouls off Cubs pitching were their most in any game since 2019.

“It’s good, but if you don't get those home runs or you don't score the runs, it's going to be, ‘Man, why did we foul off so many pitches we can hit?’” Goldschmidt said. “The biggest thing was just, you know, getting those runs in.”

The outburst was more than enough support for Kim, now an owner of two consecutive dazzling, scoreless outings for a Cards rotation desperate not just for zeros but simply for innings. A full rotation worth of arms now sits on the injured list, with only three healthy starters rostered ahead of the All-Star break.

No matter for Kim, who’s pitched some of his best outings in a Cardinals uniform in consecutive starts. On Saturday, that came in the form of seven strikeouts across six innings, one off his career-high in punchouts, and lowering his ERA to 3.11.

What’ll be fascinating to watch is how the starts out of the All-Star break unfold for Kim. As it stands, with few, if any, expiring contracts deemed to be movable on the books, Kim resembles the Cardinals’ top trade chip, a lefty with a lengthy history of success and a contract that is affordable, just a $4 million annual value.

St. Louis, caught in limbo between a contender or seller, will have roughly three more starts from Kim before the July 30 Trade Deadline comes and goes. There’s no firm indication yet they are shopping him (or anyone else), nor do they have much flexibility to expend him given their dearth of healthy arms.

But depending on how the remainder of July unfolds -- namely, depending on how the Cardinals see themselves by the end of the month -- Kim could bring their largest haul back in a deal.

It’s either that or he continues to pitch them back into a second-half run.

“We got one more game,” Goldschmidt said of the first half. “We're going to go out there and try to win it. … Who knows what’s going to happen? Just try to take it day by day and try to go win tomorrow.”