The Cubs got homers from Ian Happ, Sergio Alcantara and Joc Pederson to win their fourth straight.
Joc Pederson knows what it takes to be a good team. His last game with the Dodgers saw them win the 2020 World Series to complete a long-awaited trip to the top of the sport.
“Details are very important. Good teams take care of the small things,” Pederson said. “There really are no small things; they’re all big. You can see that when two good teams play each other, the ones who make the least amount of mistakes usually win. The littlest mistake that you think is so small could end up losing you a game or a playoff game or a World Series.”
That’s all true, but power, patience and good starting pitching help too as the Cubs saw again Saturday in their 7-2 win over the Cardinals. Homers from Ian Happ, Sergio Alcantara and Pederson plus six innings from Kyle Hendricks helped the Cubs win their fourth straight and keep pace with the Brewers atop the National League Central.
The Cubs entered Saturday’s game having won 26 of their last 39, the best in the National League and second best in baseball over that stretch, and one reason has been their offense. They started the day with 85 home runs, which ranked fourth in the NL, and had the circuit’s fourth-best run differential at plus-33.
Those positive trends continued Saturday in front of a revved-up Wrigley Field crowd of 39,095.
Wearing their dark blue City Connect jerseys for the first time, the Cubs offense was detail-oriented against Cardinals starter John Gant. Nolan Arenado gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead with a second-inning home run, but that edge didn’t make it through the bottom of the frame.
Following a Willson Contreras walk, Happ got the Cubs in front with an opposite-field two-run homer to left, giving the team a home run in its 12th straight game. Gant’s problems were just getting started, as he walked the next three batters – including Hendricks – and then also handed a free pass to Kris Bryant to extend the Cubs’ lead to 3-1.
Jake Woodford then replaced Gant and gave up a Javy Baez RBI single before hitting Anthony Rizzo with the bases loaded to cap the Cubs’ five-run second.
Hendricks, meanwhile, earned a win in a career-best sixth consecutive start but the home run bug continued to bite him. Following Arenado’s drive, Paul DeJong homered in the third to cut the Cubs’ lead to 5-2, and up the number of home runs allowed by Hendricks to 19.
After the home runs, Hendricks settled in and gave up just the two runs for his ninth quality start. He retired the last 11 he faced, and has a 3.12 ERA in his last eight games.
The Cubs offense kept adding support for Hendricks.
In the third, Alcantara’s second homer of the week made it 6-2. Then in the fourth, Pederson became the second Cubs player this year to homer in three straight games, driving a Seth Elledge sinker to left.
The offense and Hendricks continued the Cubs’ surprisingly strong start, as a team perhaps not expected to contend is a first-place club in mid-June.
“I will give a lot of credit to the coaches, and a lot of credit to the players,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “My coaching staff is in tune with these guys. They communicate. They feel like they identify where they may need some work and when they might need a day off.
“We communicate about all that, and the players are very accountable. The players try to stay up to speed and ready, whether they’re role-players or starters or just [fluctuating] between the two.”