Paul Goldschmidt slugged his 32nd and 33rd homers to highlight a five-RBI performance and position himself in the Triple Crown discussion, helping the St. Louis Cardinals roll to an 8-3 win Thursday over the Chicago Cubs.
Goldschmidt increased his NL-leading RBI total to 105 and also leads the NL in batting average (.339). He is second to Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies (35) in home runs, and Thursday was the the third time this season Goldschmidt had a multi-homer game and the 23rd time in his career.
Goldschmidt, Corey Dickerson and Tommy Edman collected three hits apiece as the NL Central-leading Cardinals won for the 10th time in their last 12 games and concluded a 6-2 trip.
Dickerson set an expansion-era franchise record for consecutive hits – 10 in 10 consecutive plate appearances. He sparked a three-run first inning with an RBI single for his ninth consecutive hit, breaking the previous mark of eight held by Curt Flood (1964, 1968), Felix Jose (1991) and Fernando Tatis (1998).
The Cardinals collected 16 hits even without slugger Nolan Arenado, who returned to St. Louis to attend the birth of his first child. But that was plenty of support for Dakota Hudson (7-6), who pitched a season-high seven innings of five-hit ball.
The Cubs lost for the fourth time in six games. Starter Marcus Stroman (3-6) gave up 11 hits and five runs, all earned, in five innings. It was one more hit than he’d surrendered against them on June 3.
Nolan Gorman followed Dickerson’s first-inning hit with an RBI single, and Tyler O’Neill capped it with a sacrifice fly.
Goldschmidt hit a two-run single in the fourth off Stroman, then smacked a solo shot that landed near the top of the left-field bleachers off Sean Newcomb in the sixth and had a two-run shot in the eighth off Kervin Castro.
Cubs left fielder Ian Happ provided the bulk of the Cubs’ offense, hitting a double and scoring on a throwing error by Edman in the second, and following that with an RBI single in the third. Happ also hit a double that eluded right fielder Lars Nootbaar to score Nico Hoerner in the eighth.
UP NEXT
Cardinals: Will start LHP Jose Quintana (4-5, 3.45 ERA) Friday night at Atlanta. Quintana allowed four runs (two earned) in a season-low 2 2/3 innings in a 6-4 win Sunday over the Diamondbacks.