CHICAGO — When the downpour ended, the real deluge began.

And it just did not stop.

The Cardinals opened up a historically huge lead on the Cubs and drowned their archrivals with a 17-1 thumping Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field. The Cardinals thundered out to a lead that got as big as 17 runs by scoring in every inning from the second through the seventh, and before the Cubs scored their first run, nine Cardinals players had scored at least a run — and one of them, Bryan Torres, came off the bench to do so with a solo homer.

It was the third-largest margin of victory ever for the Cardinals against the Cubs in at least 125 years of feuding.

Only once before in the past 25 years have the Cardinals had a lead of 14 runs or greater in a game, and that was the day in Pittsburgh in 2022 that ended with Yadier Molina borrowing Adam Wainwright’s glove to go pitch an inning. Six times the Cardinals have scored at least 16 runs against the Cubs, and the previous time spawned Matt Carpenter brand salsa at area Schnucks way back in July 2018. This win surpassed both of those games before it got to the seventh inning.

Slightly irked by Atlanta insisting on a night game Thursday night before they had an afternoon game at Wrigley, the Cardinals responded by scoring 28 runs in less than 24 hours.

Loud rumbles of thunder, strikes of lightning, and the corresponding cloudburst did delay the start of Friday’s game by 10 minutes.

It wasn’t long after that the real storm began.

The Cardinals got home runs from Nathan Church and Masyn Winn to launch to an 11-0 lead by the end of the fourth inning. Rookie Blaze Jordan had his first career three-hit game in the majors, and the bottom three hitters in the Cardinals’ lineup had five runs scored by the end of the sixth inning. The Cardinals had 13 two-out RBIs, and that is the most in a game for them since at least 1961, according to Elias’ research.

Winn had four RBIs, and when he was lifted for a pinch hitter, that pinch hitter, Torres, homered to push the Cardinals to a 17-0 lead.

The earliest similar route of the Cubs by the Cardinals came on the same date back in 1904 when they won 19-2.

The 16-run loss to their archrivals came the game after the Cubs dunked the Padres, 22-3.

That is a 35-run whiplash for the hosts at the Friendly Confines.

And it's a significant shutdown by the Cardinals of a team that had won five consecutive and scored at least eight in five of its past eight wins.

Pallante claims 10th win

With that gust of offense at his back, Cardinals starter Andre Pallante provided the zeroes to keep the Cubs lagging so historically far behind.

He pitched around an infield single and a walk in the first inning to cool the lineup that had produced 22 runs on Wednesday and June’s National League player of the month in Pete Crow-Armstrong. The outfielder the locals call PCA doubled off Pallante to lead off the third inning, but he didn’t get any farther than third base. Pallante retired the next three batters to maroon Crow-Armstrong and then continued his afternoon stroll through the park.

Pallante pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings and struck out two.

He scattered five hits and kept the Cubs mum with runners in scoring position.

Pallante is the first Cardinal starter to claim his 10th win of the season before the All-Star break since Miles Mikolas did in 2018.

Another crack at Peterson

When first the Cardinals faced lefty David Peterson this season, they doused him with six runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings.

The uniform was different, but the results sure were similar Friday.

Aching for pitching because of widespread injuries to their rotation, the Cubs traded for Peterson recently to rescue him from the New York Mets and help them save some innings for a tattered rotation. It was than a month ago that Peterson lost to the Cardinals with the Mets at Busch Stadium, and here he was Friday making his first start as a Cub at Wrigley.

He got through the first inning without much trouble.

He even pitched around an error.

It would get worse for him from there.

The Cardinals drubbed Peterson for three runs in the second, three more in the third inning, and four of the five runs the Cardinals scored in the fourth inning hung on the left-hander’s pitching line.

Six of the 10 runs Peterson allowed came on two home runs.

In the second inning, Church hit his second homer in as many days. For the third time in four days, Church’s homer played a part in the Cardinals either taking the lead or tying the game. His bolt into the bleachers of Peterson was a three-run shot with two outs. Church’s eighth homer of the season took advantage of a two-out double from Jose Fermin and a two-out infield single by Jordan.

After widening the lead on the Cubs and Peterson to 6-0 in the third inning with a classic mix of a double, a single, and a sacrifice fly, the Cardinals struck for another homer that added to the lefty’s woes in the fourth inning

Beneath the surface of the Cardinals’ power surge over the previous few days has been Winn setting up the swings with his singles. Winn joined into the blast in the fourth. The Cardinals’ shortstop collected his fifth hit in seven at-bats with a three-run homer. He got to join in the blast. The Cubs lifted Peterson from the game after Alec Burleson roped a two-run single against him. That meant he did not face Winn for a third time, but Peterson left the bases plenty populated for Winn to clear.

Reliever Bryse Wilson entered the game and quickly got ahead on Winn, 0-2. Winn fouled off a 93.5-mph fastball to keep the count at two strikes. When Wilson turned to the curveball for the first time, Winn turned on it.

He landed it 391 feet away in the bleachers for a 11-0 lead.

In two games against Peterson this season, the Cardinals have scored 16 runs and pelted the lefty with 16 hits. The Cubs aren’t in a position to bail on the lefty so soon after acquiring him and so quickly before they have better health in their rotation. But they may rethink the rotation if Peterson is set for a third start against the Cardinals.

After all, the third time through a lineup is supposed to be even harder.

Row, row, row to a rout

It didn’t take long for Fermin to get a chance to try the celebration he wanted to adopt.

From the same player who purchased the “Beware of Dogs” sign for the Cardinals dugout and found the “Dawg” chain bestowed upon home-run hitters came Friday’s new entry into the Cardinals catalog of celebrations: The Norwegian Row. Borrowing from the fans of Norway’s soccer team this World Cup and their simulated rowing up escalators and in the stands, Fermin wanted to try to duplicate the Norway team’s variation as a hit celebration.

When he doubled with one out in the second inning, Fermin got his chance.

A huge soccer fan, he pretended the bang a drum at second base just as Norway’s soccer team does, and then his teammates in the dugout did a big sweep of their arms as if oarsmen on a boat. In the third inning, Fermin again split the Cubs outfielders for an RBI double, and when he got to second he pantomimed banging on a drum.

The dugout rowed in unison.

Routs are how such celebrations become trends.

©2026 STLtoday.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.