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. 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.
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 to repair 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 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.
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 golf shot down the right field line in the second had tied it 3-all.
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,” striking a slider on the outside edge of the plate to the front of the right-field bleachers.
Báez had been leading all Triple-A player in homers, with 34 in 101 games for Memphis.
Boyd yielded four homers in a game twice before, while with Detroit. Both contests were in August 2019, coming against Seattle and Minnesota.