PCA Went Deep, Herrera Went Deeper: How to Watch the Cubs-Cardinals Finale

Wednesday night at Busch Stadium took nine innings to produce nothing and about ten minutes to produce everything. Pete Crow-Armstrong, booed all night by a crowd that turned its back on him and chanted “overrated,” hit a two-run home run in the tenth and dropped the bat at his feet. Ivan Herrera doubled into the left-center gap in the bottom half and ended it.

They do it again Thursday afternoon, and the answer to the loudest question came fast. Andre Pallante threw sixteen pitches in the first inning, ten of them strikes, and struck out Crow-Armstrong swinging to start the game. No message pitch. Just a punchout.

Here’s how to watch the finale, and what’s behind it.

How to Watch: Cubs at Cardinals

• First Pitch: 1:16 p.m. CDT / 2:16 p.m. ET
• Where: Busch Stadium, St. Louis
• TV: Marquee Sports Network (Chicago) | Cardinals broadcast (St. Louis)
• Stream: MLB.TV (out of market). New MLB.TV subscriptions are purchased through ESPN.
• National TV: None. Thursday’s national windows are Nationals-Braves on ESPN at 7:15 p.m. ET and Mariners-Dodgers on MLB Network at 10:10 p.m. ET.
• Pitching Matchup: Javier Assad (6-1, 3.86 ERA) vs. Andre Pallante (11-6, 3.73 ERA)
• Records: Cubs 61-47 | Cardinals 54-54
• Series: Chicago leads 2-1
• Conditions: 85 degrees, partly cloudy, wind 4 mph in from center
• Umpires: Tyler Jones (HP), Clint Vondrak (1B), Adam Hamari (2B), Todd Tichenor (3B)

Lineups

Chicago Cubs: Pete Crow-Armstrong (CF), Seiya Suzuki (DH), Michael Busch (1B), Alex Bregman (3B), Ian Happ (LF), Nico Hoerner (2B), Michael Conforto (RF), Carson Kelly (C), Dansby Swanson (SS).

St. Louis Cardinals: JJ Wetherholt (2B), Jordan Walker (DH), Alec Burleson (1B), Ivan Herrera (C), Lars Nootbaar (RF), Masyn Winn (SS), Bryan Torres (LF), Blaze Jordan (3B), Nathan Church (CF).

Note the change from Wednesday: Herrera catches and hits fourth on Thursday after serving as the designated hitter and hitting third in the walk-off win.

The First Inning

Pallante struck out Crow-Armstrong swinging to open the game, then struck out Suzuki swinging, with Herrera throwing down to Burleson at first to complete the strikeout.

Michael Busch — at Busch Stadium — broke it up with a sharp line-drive single to right fielder Lars Nootbaar.

That brought up Bregman, who worked the count to 2-2 against a mix of sliders in the high 80s and sinkers touching 95.7 mph, fouling off two along the way. He grounded the fifth pitch into a force out, Masyn Winn to JJ Wetherholt, Busch retired at second to end the inning.

One hit, no runs, two strikeouts, four batters faced. Assad and the Cubs went to work against the top of the St. Louis order: Wetherholt, Walker, Burleson, with Herrera behind them.

What Happened Wednesday Night

Nine scoreless innings. Matthew Boyd gave Chicago seven of them on 89 pitches with five strikeouts. Dustin May answered with five scoreless of his own, allowing a single hit on 70 pitches before the Cardinals pulled him with the trade deadline looming, and got hugs from the whole dugout on his way in.

Crow-Armstrong broke the deadlock in the tenth, ripping an 0-1 changeup from Luis Gastelum for a two-run home run — 109.1 mph off the bat, a projected 424 feet, per Statcast. His 24th of the season, and one of only three hits the Cubs collected all night.

St. Louis scored three in the bottom half against Trent Thornton, who recorded one out on 16 pitches. Herrera finished 3-for-5 with two doubles, and the second one, into the left-center gap, ended it.

Cardinals 3, Cubs 2. Chicago went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

“That was a good game,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “They had some big at-bats in the 10th.”

The Pitcher Who Gave Up the Homer Got the Win

Gastelum threw thirteen pitches, surrendered the go-ahead home run, watched his teammates score three in the bottom half, and was credited with the victory.

He made his major league debut on July 8. He was born in Los Mochis, in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, came up through the Mexican Pacific League with Caneros de Los Mochis, and pitched for Mexico in the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

Baseball Without Borders

Herrera was born in Panama City, Panama. Gastelum was born in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico. The first man to reach Herrera in the celebration was Bryan Torres, born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, who played for Puerto Rico in the 2026 World Baseball Classic and made his own major league debut in May after eleven years in the minors and independent ball. Torres starts in left field Thursday.

Chicago’s side of it: Seiya Suzuki, born in Arakawa, Tokyo, hitting second, and Nootbaar across the diamond in right for St. Louis, born in El Segundo, California, who represented Japan in the World Baseball Classic through his mother’s heritage.

What’s at Stake

The trade deadline is Monday, August 3 at 6 p.m. ET. The Cardinals entered Thursday at .500, and five of the six pitchers they used in Wednesday’s win were rental-eligible arms. May and Ryne Stanek are the names most often mentioned. Herrera’s has circulated as well.

Chicago hosts the Yankees on Friday. St. Louis goes to Toronto for three. A Cubs win takes the series and keeps them comfortably in front in the National League Central. A St. Louis win squares the four-game set and sends the Cardinals north at .500 with the deadline three days out.

All times as listed. Statistics via the official box score and Statcast. Photographs via AP.