Cubs ace left-hander Matthew Boyd came into Saturday’s game against St. Louis on a roll.
Cardinals left fielder Joshua Báez, making his major-league debut, slammed the brakes on it in – in historic fashion.
Báez homered in his first three at bats in the “bigs,” becoming the first player to ever do so – or go deep three times in his first game. St. Louis went on to top the Cubs 8-4 and dealt the North Siders only their third loss in their last 12 games.
All three of Báez’s drives, as well as Blaze Jordan’s sixth-inning home run, came off Boyd to match his career high for homers (four) allowed in a game.
“He hit three different pitches for home runs,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “He beat us for sure.”
Boyd, the Cubs opening day starter, entered Saturday 6-0 with a 2.43 ERA in nine starts since returning on June 25 from a stint on the IL for surgery on the meniscus in his left knee. But the Cardinals tagged him for seven runs on five hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings and his record slipped to 8-2 with a 4.02 ERA.
Báez had been leading all Triple-A player in homers, with 34 in 101 games for Memphis. And the Cubs did have intel on the 23-year-old, rated as the Cards’ No. 2 prospect and the 56th overall by Baseball America.
“So we had a good idea,” Boyd said “I didn’t execute.
“Sometimes they’re (pitches) taken. Sometimes they’re good for singles or doubles, and he capitalized.”
Báez crushed the first major-league pitch he ever saw, Boyd’s 93.4 mph high fastball, 449 feet to center field for a two-run shot that gave St. Louis a 3-0 lead in the first.
“Missed with the first heater and he was ready for it,” Boyd said.
The 23-year-old connected again in fourth, launching a solo shot to left on a low, full-count, changeup. That put the Cardinals back in front, 4-3, after Michael Conforto’s three-run arching shot down the right field line in the second had tied it 3-all.
“I thought it could have been a little more away and he put a good swing on it,” Boyd said.
Báez’s smacked a two-run homer in the sixth to up the Cards lead to 6-3. This time the right-handed batter went “oppo” sending a slider on the outside edge of the plate to the front of the right-field bleachers.
“He hit a backdoor slider on the last one,” Boyd said. “That’s five runs from those three at-bats and that was the difference when it came down to it.”
Jordan’s homer and a fifth St. Louis blast, by Alec Burleson off Colin Rea in the eighth, iced it.
Boyd yielded four homers in a game twice before, while with Detroit. Both contests were in August 2019, against Seattle and Minnesota.
Counsell said he didn’t see lot of mechanical difference in Boyd in this game, aside from a rocky first inning when he threw 24 pitches.
Báez bio
Báez is from Boston, but lived as kid in the Domincan Republic, before returning to Massachusetts at age 11. He had 30 family members and friends at Wrigley, including his mother
“For me to not only get a hit, but hit three home runs is just crazy,” Báez said.
He was just trying to stay calm before his first at-bat and look for a pitch “in his zone and be simple with it.”
And after the third homer?
“I was just really just glad that the ball just went over the wall and I had no idea (it was a record),”Báez said. “Then I saw it went over and I was like, ‘This is insane’ and like my teammates were so pumped up.”
Conforto connects
Conforto’s 10th homer ended a 14-game drought, dating to July 21 versus Detroit.
He lofted a high fly at a 43-degree launch angle down the right field line. It landed just inside the foul pole.
Dansby’s day off
Shortstop Dansby Swanson didn’t start on Saturday, getting a routine maintenance day off.
