Chicago Cubs’ offense finds its groove early in win over Cardinals

Mother nature wasn’t going to postpone Chicago Cubs baseball today and our boys made the best of it. In a makeup game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago’s offense scored a flurry of runs early on.

It was a beautiful day at Wrigley Field despite the Lake reminding fans that it is, in fact, mid-April. However, the Chicago Cubs gave their faithful crowd a reason to cheer, scoring a whopping six runs in the first two innings of play.

In addition to their early offensive showcase, southpaw Jon Lester (2-0, 3.10 ERA) bounced back nicely after a shaky opening half. Jon not only flirted with a little history of his own by taking a no-hitter into the fifth inning but he held onto his comfortable five-run lead.

This Chicago rotation has had a problem with opposing hitters early on in games, resulting in the bullpen having to clean up a mess. Or at least, stop the bleeding before things got out of control.

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Today, Lester strolled through six remarkable innings, surrendering one unearned run on two hits while striking out seven and walking one. His solid outing put him on the line for his second win of the campaign.

The lone run that scored in the first came on a wild pitch with Harrison Bader standing on third. Bader was hit by a pitch then later stole second and swiped third on a Willson Contreras throw that bounced off his body and into left field.

Hits on parade

As for this Chicago Cubs offense, it was a great day at the office. Highlighting Chicago’s 14 hits against St. Louis’ five, Kyle Schwarber, Javier Baez, Anthony Rizzo and Jason Heyward led the charge.

All four men combined 9-for-17 with five RBI. Heyward launched his second home run of the season in the fifth; a two-run shot which extended Chicago’s lead to seven.

Baez, not to our surprise, continued to swing a hot bat in today’s 8-5 win over the Cardinals. Javy recorded a triple early on and scored on a Kris Bryant RBI. He most definitely earned the second slot in the lineup behind Albert Almora Jr.

To note, the Cubs were 5-for-9 with runners in scoring position. A lot of their runs came with runners on and one or two outs in a frame. Something that needs to continue as they hit the .500 mark.

To sum it all up

Despite the late Cardinal rally with the bullpen taking over, it was a great way to end the first homestand of the year. Now, Joe Maddon and company will hit the road and head to Colorado for a weekend stay.

Next: Javy offers flexibility batting second

Once the boys are done in Colorado, they’ll set up a 2016 World Series rematch as they visit the Cleveland Indians. Buckle up, Cubs’ fans, this road trip is going to be fun.