Feisty as ever and refusing to surrender anything at the plate – even when down in counts and late in innings – the Cardinals had hits in seven of their first 10 at bats, walked twice and scored 10 times with two outs in Friday's first four innings.

And they were just getting going after that scorching, white-hot start at the plate on a feel-good Friday for the Redbirds. Time and time again, the Cardinals flexed their offensive muscles and showed the arch-rival Cubs just how much firepower they actually possess in their prodigious bats.

The Cards throttled new Cubs lefthander David Peterson for 10 earned runs in less than four innings, scoring three times in the second, three times in the third, five more in the fourth, three times in the fifth and twice more in the sixth of a 17-1 beatdown of Chicago in the opener of a critical three-game series at Wrigley Field.

It is the Cardinals third-largest margin of victory over the Cubs in the history of the two storied franchises.

"I think the reality of it is we just don't care," said Masyn Winn, who drilled a three-run home and drove in four in the runaway victory. "We didn't get a lot of sleep last night, we showed up late and we came out here to work. We don't really care. We're just having a good time and putting up a lot of runs." 

The pummeling of the Cubs was especially impressive considering that the Cubs came into the day having won 15 of their last 19 games while scoring at least eight runs in nine of those games. The Cubs earned the distinction of becoming the first team in MLB history to have consecutive games where they won one by at least 20 runs and lost the next one by at least 10 runs.  

On this day, the Cards scored at least 17 runs at a stunned Wrigley Field for the first time since the Matt Carpenter-led squad hung 18 on the Cubs on July 20, 2018.  

Friday’s rout was the 27th time this season that the Cardinals have scored at least five runs in a road game, the most in MLB. Only the two-time-champion Dodgers (25) are within reach of the surging Redbirds. Combined with the Cardinals series win at Busch Stadium from May 29-31, St. Louis has beaten the Cubs three times in four meetings so far this season.   

Nathan Church and Masyn Winn drilled three-run homers into the seats, and Bryan Torres added a solo shot when the game was already a laugher. The Cardinals scored 13 of their first 14 runs with two outs to break the backs of the rival Cubs. A night after scoring seven runs in the seventh inning of the beating of the Braves, the Cards set a new season-high in runs and hits. The performance was especially impressive considering that the Cards didn’t get to their downtown Chicago hotel until after 2 a.m. CT after winning 11-5 in Atlanta a night earlier.

Jose Fermin had two doubles and an RBI, and Alec Burleson drilled a two-run single off the left-handed Peterson to chase him from the game and added another two RBI in the fifth inning. Every Cardinal starter had a hit other than Nelson Velazquez, who drove in two runs and scored in the fourth.

Despite Doing his Job in Thursday's win, Gordon Graceffo Demoted to Triple-A

Andre Pallante (10-5) was the beneficiary of all the run support on Friday. He didn’t allow a run over 5 2/3 innings of work and improved to 6-0 on the road. Pallante, one of the Cardinals many feel-good comeback stories, is making a push to pitch in the MLB All-Star Game a year after going 0-8 over his final 10 starts.

The Cardinals got off to a great start thanks to some timely hitting with two outs in the second inning. Jose Fermin pulled his hands in and doubled into the left field and Blaze Jordan drilled a 98.9 mph liner off David Peterson’s left arm for a single. Then, Church fouled off three pitches before crushing a curveball in the middle of the plate on the eighth pitch of the at-bat. The three-run smash came on the heels of Church crushing a three-run homer in Atlanta on Tuesday and a two-run, game-tying shot on Thursday night against the Braves.

The Cards pounded Peterson again in the third inning when Ivan Herrera reached on a line-drive single and Jordan Walker ripped a double into the left-center gap. From there, Nelson Velazquez delivered a sacrifice fly, Masyn Winn dumped a 1-2 pitch into right field to score Walker and Fermin drilled another double to balloon the lead out to 6-0.

The Cards turned the game into an absolute laugher with five runs in the fourth inning and three more in the fifth inning for a two-touchdown lead.

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