BOX SCORE

Sunday evening was another day and another series win for a Cubs (54-36) team that increased its NL Central lead to four games.

In an 11-0 rout of their division rival St. Louis Cardinals (48-43), here are three things we learned from a night where the Cubs’ All-Stars and non-All-Stars shone alike.

“And I took that personally.”

The above is a Michael Jordan reference, who was a 14-time NBA All-Star during his Bulls heyday. 

Seiya Suzuki probably should have been a first-time MLB All-Star when rosters were announced just ahead of the Cubs’ matchup with the Cardinals on Sunday evening. 

But to the surprise of many, his name wasn’t called. 

It’s a quizzical case: Suzuki entered the game leading MLB in RBI (75), had a career-high in both the former and in home runs (24), and has clearly been one of the most lethal offensive players in the league this year. 

Whether Suzuki was personally affected by the snub or not, he sure showed on the field why he deserved to make the trip to Atlanta. 

In the third inning, Suzuki tacked on another RBI to his league-leading total with his 22nd double of the season. 

Then, he added more insult to injury: a solo shot straight into the wind, marking his 25th home run and 77th RBI of the season. The blast went 405 feet to make it 11-0 in the Cubs’ favor. 

A grind and a half

Matthew Boyd took the mound Sunday night with a fresh All-Star glow. 

The Cubs’ lefty last faced the Cardinals in St. Louis just two starts ago, and he was excellent: Six scoreless innings with only three hits allowed. He threw 79 pitches as the Cubs went on to snap a three-game skid and win 8-0. 

On Sunday night, Boyd had already thrown over half that count — 45 pitches — after two innings. 

But he also struck out five in those two frames, and the Cardinals had only two hits. They were just making Boyd work harder than usual — the southpaw could only generate seven swings and misses in those first 45 pitches. 

The next inning, Boyd threw 17 more pitches while logging two more punch-outs. 

After four innings, he had nine strikeouts — a season-high. 

Boyd took a night, one where he didn’t look like he could get much length, all the way through five shutout innings. Along with the nine punch outs, he allowed only three hits and one walk. 

Boyd lowered his already-incredible ERA to 2.52 in 18 starts, a number that proves why his first-ever All-Star bid was so deserving. 

They say scorers score

On Sunday, the Cubs once again displayed the unrelenting nature of their offense. 

After four innings, the Cubs showed Cardinals pitching no mercy, pushing 10 runs across. It was the league-leading 16th time that they’ve scored 10 or more runs this season — that’s more than the times they’ve been shut out or scored just one run combined. 

In scoring 5.47 runs per game this season, the Cubs stand on nearly equal terms with the league-leading Los Angeles Dodgers, who average 5.49 runs per game. 

Cubs hitters own MLB’s fourth-lowest strikeout rate (20.1%) and are tied for the fifth-highest walk rate (9.0%). And while they have hit the fourth-most home runs in the league (136), Sunday showed how they’ve been able to rely on more than just the home run, even in offensive explosions. 

Suzuki had the sole home run of the game and it accounted for just one of the 11 runs the Cubs scored. 

Stolen bases, fielder’s choice RBI, sacrifice flies and plain hard-hit balls for extra bases made up all the production the Cubs needed to get back in the win column.

The Cubs will now head to Minnesota to face the Twins at Target Field for the first time in over two years. Shota Imanaga (5-2, 2.78 ERA) is slated to take the mound while Cubs hitters will face off against the Twins’ Simeon Woods Richardson (4-4, 4.41 ERA). 

Coverage begins Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. CT on Marquee Sports Network.