Big knocks keep coming as Cubs rout Cards

CHICAGO -- It looked like more of the same as Christopher Morel trudged back to the dugout, shaking his head at the called third strike that ended the second inning. The Cubs had the bases loaded, but the all-too-familiar woes of late in such situations persisted.

What happened next finally allowed the North Siders to release a sigh of relief.

“Sometimes when it just continues to linger on,” manager David Ross said, “you just kind of hold your breath, like, when’s that big knock gonna come?”

The hits kept coming in what snowballed into a 10-4 rout of the rival Cardinals that had the Wrigley Field faithful roaring on Wednesday night. After a prolonged stretch of situational-hitting troubles, the Cubs pieced together a much-needed, lineup-wide assault on St. Louis pitching.

Eight of nine Cubs in the lineup had at least one hit. Eight scored at least one run. Chicago churned out seven extra-base hits, including home runs from Patrick Wisdom and Yan Gomes, plus a pair of doubles by Dansby Swanson.

The North Siders drew six walks -- three via Trey Mancini -- and finished 6-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

It was precisely the type of win the Cubs needed following a stretch of eight consecutive games with a score decided by three runs or fewer.

“We’d take this style of win every day,” said Gomes, who was activated from the injured list prior to the game. “But I think what’s consistent is our ability to put guys on, keep putting the pressure [on]. I think we just stick with it. Hits are gonna come. Today, hits came.”

The Cubs have already shown they have this in them.

Through April 21, when the Cubs routed the Dodgers in a 13-0 victory, the club was hitting .326/.383/.486 with a 137 wRC+ with runners in scoring position. Chicago was featuring one of baseball’s top run-scoring units, and had pounded out 10-plus runs six times in the first 19 games.

The lineup went cold from that point on, especially when traffic piled up on the basepaths.

Between April 22 and Tuesday night, the Cubs slashed .189/.300/.252 with a 54 wRC+ with RISP. Chicago’s .552 OPS in such scenarios was the lowest mark in MLB in that span. Prior to Wednesday’s game, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said his club only produced six extra-base hits with RISP in that stretch.

“We just haven't been able to get the big hit,” Hoyer said. “I think that's the biggest frustration, I guess I would say, of all of it. Whenever you're playing all those close games, it means someone gave up a run at some point.

“But ultimately, our pitching has been fantastic. I think our run prevention has been fantastic. We just haven't gotten any big hits.”

Hoyer then watched his team churn out four extra-base hits with RISP in the win over the Cardinals.

After Swanson doubled, Seiya Suzuki pushed a Jordan Montgomery pitch up the right-field line in the third for an RBI two-base hit. Wisdom followed with his 12th blast of the year. In the sixth, Morel delivered a run-scoring double with runners on the corners. Two batters later, Swanson plated Morel with another double.

“Break the seal, right?” Ross said.

Lefty Justin Steele (6-0 with a 1.82 ERA) spun a quality start for the Cubs and was the beneficiary of the outburst.

“I love when the bats are rolling and the Cubbies are hot,” Steele said with a smile.

As the Cubs were going through this more recent lull with runners on base, Wisdom said it helped to have those first three weeks of the season in the back of their collective minds. He called it a “reassurance” that the hitters know what they are capable of doing on offense.

“It’s exciting,” Wisdom said. “You can kind of see the excitement, the emotion come out with all of us when we come through. We have a great lineup and I think no one was, in a sense, panicking about it.

“We knew what we had to do to come through, and that’s just staying true to who we are as hitters and stick to our plan.”

Hoyer chalked up the struggles of late to “randomness” more than any concrete explanation.

Ross noted there had been a recent spike in grounders in RISP situations, and opposing teams had slowed the Cubs’ early pace with basestealing, but otherwise did not see major red flags during the downtown.

“Today was definitely a good day,” Gomes said. “Things started going our way.”