Cardinals 3, Cubs 2: Herrera Ends a Scoreless Night in the 10th

Nine innings without a run, then six batters changed everything

July 29, 2026 – St. Louis – For nine innings, nobody crossed home plate. Then Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a 424-foot homer, Jordan Walker cut the lead in half, and Iván Herrera sent Busch Stadium home with one swing.

Herrera lined a one-out, two-run double to left-center in the bottom of the 10th. Walker scored from first behind automatic runner JJ Wetherholt, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 3-2.

The finish packed all the action into one inning. The nine before it belonged to Matthew Boyd, Dustin May, and two bullpens that refused to blink.

Boyd escaped every Cardinals threat

Matthew Boyd gave Chicago seven scoreless innings: four hits, two walks, and five strikeouts. He needed only 45 pitches to get within one out of finishing the fifth, but St. Louis finally forced him to work.

Boyd hit Michael Conforto and walked Nathan Church before a long battle with Wetherholt. The Cardinals' rookie made Boyd throw 10 pitches. Boyd won the at-bat with a groundout and kept the game scoreless.

St. Louis threatened again in the sixth. The Cardinals loaded the bases with two outs, only for Blaze Jordan to foul out. Boyd then retired the side in order in the seventh. He left after seven scoreless innings with Chicago's bullpen needing six outs.

Jacob Webb handled the eighth. Caleb Thielbar handled the ninth. Neither allowed St. Louis to break through.

Boyd's work deserved a win. Baseball doesn't promise one.

May and four relievers gave Chicago almost nothing

Dustin May matched Boyd with five scoreless innings of his own. The Cubs managed one hit against him, an Alex Bregman double with two outs in the fourth. May walked two, struck out three, and threw 70 pitches.

The Cardinals then kept Chicago scoreless even though they didn't have a lead yet.

Justin Bruihl, Ryne Stanek, George Soriano, and Riley O'Brien each threw a hitless inning. O'Brien faced the hardest test in the ninth. He hit a batter and issued an intentional walk before Dansby Swanson flew out to end the inning.

Chicago had scored 17 runs on 31 hits across the first two games of the series. Through nine innings Wednesday, the same lineup had one hit and no runs. St. Louis needed five pitchers to do it, but each one handed the next man a scoreless game.

Every Cubs at-bat carried the same risk: one run could undo nine innings of pitching. Crow-Armstrong hit a two-run homer in the 10th.

Crow-Armstrong broke the tie, and Herrera won it

The automatic runner put Swanson at second to begin the 10th. Luis Gastelum got Matt Shaw to fly out, bringing Crow-Armstrong to the plate with one away.

Crow-Armstrong had gone hitless in his first 14 plate appearances of the series. On the 15th, he drove Gastelum's pitch to right-center for his 24th homer of the season. Chicago led 2-0, and a game without a run suddenly looked settled.

St. Louis answered before Trent Thornton could get an out.

Automatic runner Church started at second. Lars Nootbaar came off the bench and reached on an infield single. JJ Wetherholt walked to load the bases.

Walker grounded to third. Church scored, Wetherholt moved to second, and Nootbaar was forced out at third. The Cubs traded an out for a run and still led 2-1. They needed a double play or two more outs.

Herrera never gave them the chance. He drove Thornton's pitch into the left-center gap. Wetherholt scored the tying run. Walker kept going from first and crossed with the winner.

Herrera finished 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs. The last double gave him the second game-ending hit of his career.

AthX Engine saw value in the pitchers before the finish

AthX Engine, AthX's projection and scoring system, credited Boyd with 22 pitching fantasy points, one of the strongest pitching totals on the July 29 schedule. Seven scoreless innings carried more weight than the no-decision beside his name.

The Cardinals earned seven team fantasy points. The Cubs finished with zero despite Boyd's start and Crow-Armstrong's homer. Team scoring reflects the full result; individual scoring can still recognize the best performance in a loss.

Those fantasy points aren't a share price. Dynamic pricing also responds to market activity and other pricing inputs. AthX Engine scoring measures what happened in the game.

St. Louis found a win it badly needed

The Cardinals entered Wednesday on a three-game losing streak and had dropped nine of 11. They also had scored only five runs through the first 27 innings of this four-game series. Herrera's double didn't fix every offensive problem, but it turned nine scoreless innings into a win.

St. Louis improved to 54-54. Chicago fell to 61-47 and missed a chance to turn Crow-Armstrong's late swing into its third straight win in the series.

The clubs finish the set Thursday. Chicago moved Javier Assad up a day to face Andre Pallante. Boyd and May set a high bar for them, but this rivalry rarely repeats itself on command.

Wednesday started as a duel and ended as a race from first base. Walker won it by a few steps. Herrera made those steps matter.

*Sources: MLB.com schedule, MLB Gameday final, ESPN game recap and box score, Associated Press recap, AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*