Nolan Arenado delivered a vintage moment under the bright lights at Busch Stadium, crushing a towering three-run homer into the left-field seats to give the St. Louis Cardinals a 5–2 lead in the sixth inning against archrival Chicago. The crowd erupted, and for a moment, it felt like the Cardinals had seized full control of the game. But baseball is cruel, and the Cubs had other plans.
In a stunning turn, the Cardinals’ bullpen imploded down the stretch. Setup man Giovanny Gallegos gave up a two-run shot to Ian Happ in the eighth, and closer Ryan Helsley couldn’t stop the bleeding in the ninth, surrendering a bases-clearing double to Christopher Morel that flipped the game on its head. The 7–5 defeat stung not just because of the blown lead, but because of the opponent.
Despite Arenado’s heroics—his sixth homer of the season and 27th career blast against Chicago—St. Louis missed a chance to close the gap in the NL Central standings. “We had it,” Arenado said postgame, clearly frustrated. “We’ve got to finish.” The loss drops the Cardinals back below .500 and renews questions about their late-inning pitching depth—a problem that has haunted them all season long.
