Ian Happ’s 2 HRs fuel the Chicago Cubs’ 9-1 win against the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 – The Denver Post

A few hours before the Chicago Cubs took the field at London Stadium on Saturday night, Ian Happ acknowledged the attention around the makeshift ballpark’s dimension changes after the inaugural series’ offensive onslaught in 2019.

Between the walls in center field and the power alleys getting pushed back and a change with the baseball used in this event four years ago, Happ surmised their matchup against the St. Louis Cardinals wouldn’t feature the same hitter-friendly setting.

”I don’t think it’s going to be like a home run derby out there,” Happ predicted.

Happ, though, put on a show, slugging two home runs in the Cubs’ 9-1 win against the St. Louis Cardinals. He hit a homer in each of his first two at-bats, both off Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright. The Cubs (37-38) bookended their scoring on the international stage with Dansby Swanson going deep for a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth.

Happ donated the Chicago flag-inspired batting gloves he wore in the game to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

“If there’s ever a time that the Hall of Fame asks for anything, you’ve done something pretty cool,” Happ said. “To have those moments, that’s one of the most special parts of what we get to do.”

The London Series opener packed in 54,662 fans, including actor Cub fans Nick Offerman, tasked with leading the crowd in “Take Me Out of the Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch, and Billy Murray, who sat next to former Cubs All-Star Rick Sutcliffe and ex-Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

The Cardinals (31-45) had no answer for Justin Steele in his second appearance against them this season. Steele didn’t allow a hit until Jordan Walker’s leadoff single in the fifth. He allowed one run in six innings, striking out eight and walking one batter.

“It’s something I’ll never forget, truly special,” Steele said. “It felt like everybody was on the mound there with me. Really excited, fun energy. … I just can’t say enough about the atmosphere.”

Pitching in that type of environment is invaluable for Steele and the Cubs given where the organization hopes to be in the standings by the end of the season. Any opportunity to experience playing in the spotlight in a meaningful game could pay off in October.

“This is as close to postseason stuff as you’re going to get,” manager David Ross said. “This is good for our game. It’s good for us.”

Steele lowered his ERA to 2.62 through 14 starts. Even though teams know the lefty essentially will rely solely on his fastball-slider combination, opposing hitters haven’t been able to adjust well to how he can manipulate the movement on the two pitch types.

“The fastball plays well,” Cardinals manager Oli Marmol said. “It gets on you as a right-handed hitter. He establishes the inner half really well, throws the slider off it and expands as the game goes on once he gets you thinking on the inner half, he plays off of that. Overall he’s done a nice job of that against us and against other teams.”

Steele struck out Tommy Edman and Paul Goldschmidt to begin the game, setting the tone for his outing. The Cardinals had a chance to get back into the game in the sixth, down 7-0, with an Edman double, Goldschmidt RBI single and Nolan Arenado single to open the inning. Instead, Steele struck out the next three batters, punctuating the performance with an emphatic yell when he got Dylan Carlson looking.

“There were a couple moments there where some things could have got away from him,” Ross said. “I saw the energy, he dug down deep there at the end when some traffic was on base and locked in. He wanted the ball back from Yan (Gomes) as fast as he could get it. You could just tell that finishing moment for him was coming and he wanted it so it’s really nice to see that body language from him on the backside of a long couple of days.”

The Cubs didn’t waste any time picking up where they left off before the two-day break coming into the overseas series. By the end of the fourth, they tallied seven runs on 12 hits while the Cardinals had only one player reach base against Steele on a walk. The Cubs set a season high for two-out hits in the first six innings, recording eight against the scuffling Cardinals.

Five Cubs finished with a multihit game, led by Christopher Morel’s three. He became the first Cub to record at least three hits on his birthday since Mike Fontenot on June 9, 2009.

“I try to enjoy every moment,” Morel, 24, said. “Every time I go to the field I’m trying to get a new opportunity.”

The Cubs, winners in 11 of their last 13 games, are building momentum at the right time, finally getting on a roll after a dismal stretch post-April. If they get another dominant performance from right-hander Marcus Stroman, they could leave London on Sunday night back at .500 for the first time since May 12.

They trail the first-place Cincinnati Reds, who had their 12-game winning streak snapped Saturday, by three.

Saturday’s victory was capped by a boisterous rendition of “Go, Cubs, Go” that echoed around London Stadium from the strong contingent of Cubs fans.

“That sounded good, it was nice and loud,” Ross said, grinning. “Hopefully we’ll hear it again tomorrow.”

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