ST.LOUIS -- The Chicago Cubs lost 4-1 to the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday night. Here's a quick look at the game.
How it happened: After two rain delays totaling 2 hours, 29 minutes, the Cardinals came out swinging off of Cubs starter Jason Hammel, who gave up five doubles in less than five innings pitched. Xavier Scruggs, Jason Heyward and Yadier Molina drove in runs off of Hammel before he was pulled. Matt Carpenter promptly doubled off reliever James Russell to add to the lead. The Cubs got on the board in the third inning after Dexter Fowler doubled, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Anthony Rizzo. Other than that it was more of the same in terms of hitting with men in scoring position. The Cubs went 0-for-10.
Rain delays: The first one lasted 46 minutes, but that was before the game began. Less than two innings into the contest another storm came through, along with tornado warnings, delaying the game another 1 hour, 43 minutes. The way the Cardinals hit Hammel it's safe to say the second delay did him no favors, but it was the same for both teams and the Cards' Carlos Martinez didn't give up nearly as much hard contact. The Cubs might wonder why the game started in the first place.
What it means: It's official, the Cubs are playing their worst baseball of the season in dropping their fifth consecutive game -- a season high. They got swept by the best team in baseball, which the Cubs felt they could play with. Maybe they can but not so far this year as they dropped to 1-6 at Busch Stadium and 2-7 overall against the Cardinals.
If you're into pointing fingers there's equal blame to go around. The offense has dried up having scored just 11 runs the entire week while going 2-for-27 with men in scoring position in the series. Cubs starters aren't much better as they're finishing up a brutal month, which had them averaging the second fewest innings per start in the National League ahead of only the woeful Philadelphia Phillies.
The Cubs dropped to 39-35 on the season, 11.5 games out of first place but are finally completing a road-weary month that has been full of rain delays and brutal travel. There's one more series left though.
Ramirez returns: Reliever Neil Ramirez made his first appearance since April 15 as he returned from shoulder inflammation to pitch a clean seventh inning. He struck out two batters while hitting between 91-93 mph on the radar gun.
What's next: The Cubs will arrive in New York in the early morning hours on Monday before enjoying a day off there. They open a three-game series with the Mets on Tuesday as Kyle Hendricks (2-4, 4.46) faces lefty Jonathon Niese (3-7, 4.12).
