Cubs Crush Cardinals with Historic Home Run Barrage on July 4th
What was supposed to be a spirited holiday showdown at Wrigley Field quickly turned into a nightmare for the St. Louis Cardinals — and especially for veteran pitcher Miles Mikolas. On July 4th, a day typically filled with fireworks and celebration, the Cubs delivered their own explosive display at the expense of the Cardinals, launching a franchise-record eight home runs in an 11-3 blowout win. Mikolas alone gave up six of those, setting an unfortunate new mark in Cardinals history and joining an infamous MLB group of pitchers who have endured such a pounding.
into the game, Mikolas had tried to rally his teammates after a dismal sweep in Pittsburgh. He gave a passionate pep talk, hoping to reset the tone of the season and reestablish their competitive fire. But instead, the Cubs turned his start into a horror show. From the first inning, it was clear things weren’t going to plan. Seiya Suzuki and Pete Crow-Armstrong went back-to-back, setting the tone early. In the very next inning, Michael Busch and former Cardinals catcher Carson Kelly followed suit with back-to-back bombs of their own.
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And then — it happened again. Crow-Armstrong and Busch each hammered another home run in the third, making the Cubs just the fifth team since 1956 to go back-to-back three times in a single game. The onslaught was relentless. Busch finished with three home runs on the day, Crow-Armstrong with two, and the Cardinals’ pitching staff, which also saw John King give up two more blasts, was left reeling.
For Mikolas, who had once dubbed his offseason boat “Innings Eater,” the irony wasn’t lost. He stayed in the game for six full innings, surrendering 10 hits and 8 earned runs — including the record-setting six home runs. After the game, a dejected Mikolas owned the performance, calling it “really disappointing” and admitting, “I should have maybe fired myself up a little more.”
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol didn’t sugarcoat it either. “We got our ass handed to us,” he said bluntly, frustrated with the team’s flat performance and the continued struggles of his starting rotation. Mikolas, now with a 7.75 ERA over his last seven starts and 15 home runs allowed this season, may find his place in the rotation in question.
Still, despite the lopsided loss and the sting of being on the wrong end of Cubs history, Mikolas remained defiant. “We’re a strong team too, and I let us down today,” he said. “But we’ve got two more games in this series. We can win two days in a row and turn this around.”
The Cubs, meanwhile, look every bit like a team deserving of their division-leading status. They capitalized on every mistake, played with confidence, and gave their fans a July 4th they won’t soon forget — complete with a power display that lit up more than just the scoreboard.
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