Fastball

Chicago Cubs' Righty Joins Unfortunate Team History in Loss on Saturday

The Chicago Cubs were beaten by the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday afternoon as pitcher Hayden Wesneski was on the unfortunate end of team history thanks to some defensive blunders.

Brady Farkas

Chicago Cubs pitcher Hayden Wesneski (19) throws against the St. Louis Cardinals during the first inning at Busch Stadium on July 13.
Chicago Cubs pitcher Hayden Wesneski (19) throws against the St. Louis Cardinals during the first inning at Busch Stadium on July 13. / Jeff Le-USA TODAY Sports
In this story:

The Chicago Cubs lost to the St. Louis Cardinals 11-3 on Saturday afternoon at Busch Stadium.

Unfortunately, defensive miscues were a huge part of this story for the Cubs, as they helped lead to the drubbing.

Starting pitcher Hayden Wesneski made his own error in the bottom of the first inning which helped to open the floodgates. It was 9-1 after one inning.

Wesneski ended up going only four innings in the game, getting saddled with 11 total runs. However, because of the defensive blunder, he's in some odd company in team history.

Per @JayHayKid of the "Baseball is Dead" podcast:

Hayden Wesneski is the first Cubs pitcher to allow 7 or more *unearned* runs in a game since Chuck Rainey in 1984.

He’s the first pitcher for *any team* to allow 10+ runs but 3 or fewer *earned* runs since Andy Benes did so in 2002 for the Cardinals.

That's a tough break for Wesneski, especially since the damage was self-inflicted as a result of his own error. The 26-year-old is now 3-6 this year through 24 appearances. He's got a 4.03 ERA. Wesneski made his major league debut in 2022. He was a sixth-round pick of the Yankees in the 2022 draft out of Sam Houston State.

The Cardinals and Cubs played a doubleheader on Saturday, with the Cardinals sweeping. As a result, the Cubs are now 46-51 while the Cardinals are 50-45.

The two teams close out the first half of the season on Sunday afternoon with first pitching coming at 2:15 p.m. ET.

Follow Fastball on FanNation on social media

Continue to follow our Fastball on FanNation coverage on social media by liking us on Facebook and by following us on Twitter @FastballFN.

Published
Brady Farkas

BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

Home/History