“I don’t do this very often because I feel like it’s about what we do, and it is,” Shildt said. “When a guy is making those kind of quality pitches consistently, you’ve got to acknowledge that. You can talk about us not doing much offensively, but somedays you’ve got to say, ‘Man, that’s some pitching right there.’ That’s as good as anybody has thrown the ball against us all year. He was in control, command, everything.”
Javier Baez’s two-run homer in the first inning was the first on an 0-2 count against Miles Mikolas in his career. Victor Caratini’s double in the fourth off Mikolas provided the Cubs’ final run, and by the time they had a 3-0 lead the Cardinals had mustered one hit against Hamels (5-2).