BOX SCORE

After a smooth-sailing Friday, the Chicago Cubs endured a roller-coaster of a Saturday, which ended in an 8-6 loss to the NL Central rival St. Louis Cardinals.

A mounted comeback followed by a late blown save means the Cubs (53-36) now have shared the spoils of their first two games at Wrigley Field against the Cardinals (48-42).

They’ll have a chance to take the series in the rubber match Sunday night, but here are three things we learned from Saturday’s loss:

Off the rails

When Brad Keller entered the game in the top of the eighth inning, the Cubs held a 5-3 lead with one of their most reliable relievers on the bump. 

By the time the inning was over, it was 8-5 Cardinals.

It was a sequence of events very unlike anything that Keller has experienced this season. In the months of May and June, he pitched 25 consecutive scoreless innings of relief. The most earned runs he previously had allowed in an inning was four, and it happened only once, on April 22 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

On Saturday, Keller retired the first batter he saw before things quickly went south. Alec Burleson launched a solo home run to bring the Cardinals within one, and three singles later, the score was tied. Then, pinch-hitter Yohel Pozo arrived and worked a 3-2 count before crushing Keller’s payoff pitch 419 feet and putting the Cubs into a deep hole with not many chances left.

Keller got out of the inning, but the damage already was done. His ERA, which stood at 1.82 entering Saturday, snowballed to 2.88 after five earned runs allowed on 32 pitches.

Burning Busch

Before the series began, Michael Busch quietly was emerging as one of MLB’s best hitters. 

It’s not so quiet anymore. 

Busch had the game of his career Friday, as he hit three home runs, becoming the first Cub to do so at Wrigley Field since 2013. 

In the second inning Saturday, the first baseman had no interest in putting out his own fire. He homered again — his 18th of the season — and became the first Cub to club four in two games since Patrick Wisdom in 2023.

It also was Busch’s second homer off a left-handed pitcher in two days, which, given the way he’s struggled against southpaws this season, only further exemplified how much his offense has turned a corner in recent weeks.

After that first at-bat, Busch was slashing .524/.565/1.238 over his last seven games. That’s a 1.803 OPS.  Then, he added two more hits, and that number ballooned to 1.861.

Busch undoubtedly is putting together an All-Star-level campaign that the players won’t want to ignore when reserves are announced Sunday. His .942 OPS this season now leads the Cubs and is sixth-best in MLB.

All good things … 

Drew Pomeranz, who was riding an unprecedented 23.2 scoreless innings streak, was named the opener in a Cubs bullpen game, which became necessary Friday when Jameson Taillon hit the 15-day IL with a calf strain.

Pomeranz already done it once before — albeit in a slightly different scenario — and it worked wonders. He set up a first inning May 31 against the Cincinnati Reds, after which Ben Brown came in to throw six scoreless frames while striking out nine.

This time, there was no Brown, but there was the rest of the Cubs’ MLB second-best bullpen to back up Pomeranz. Unfortunately, those reinforcements were needed early when Pomeranz got himself into a bases-loaded jam with only one out in the first inning.

Cubs manager Craig Counsell subsequently pulled Pomeranz in favor of Chris Flexen, who gave up a two-run single to the first batter he faced. Those became the first two earned runs charged to Pomeranz this season, but that was all she wrote, as Flexen retired the next two hitters in order.

Even with his scoreless innings streak now over, Pomeranz still sports a stunning 0.76 ERA in his first big-league season since 2021. 

The Cubs-Cardinals series will culminate on “Sunday Night Baseball,” which is scheduled for 5:10 p.m. CT on ESPN. Cubs ace Matthew Boyd (8-3, 2.65 ERA) will try to shut the door on the Cardinals, who will send Erick Fedde (3-8, 4.56 ERA) to the mound.