The Fourth of July fireworks started early in Chicago as the Cubs jumped on St. Louis Cardinals pitchers Miles Mikolas and John King with a franchise-record eight home runs during an 11-3 victory.
Mikolas took the brunt of the damage by allowing six Cubs blasts. Seiya Suzuki and Pete Crow-Armstrong kicked off his rough day by going back-to-back in the bottom the first inning.
Mikolas was not given a break in the second inning as Michael Busch and Carson Kelly went back-to-back for a 4-0 lead.
Crow-Armstrong, a 2025 All-Star Game starter, and Busch weren’t done mashing, and each hit their second blasts of the day in the bottom of the third inning to extend the Cubs lead to 7-0.
The six dingers hit in the first three innings were the most in Cubs history to open a game, according to MLB’s Sarah Langs.
Busch would later hit his third of the game, right after Dansby Swanson smashed his 15th of the season off reliever John King as the Cubs went up 11-1 and set a single-game franchise record with eight home runs.
Mikolas had to battle through a tough afternoon. Despite his struggles, he remained in the game and went six innings, allowing eight earned runs on 10 hits. The six home runs allowed in a game set a new Cardinals franchise record and Mikolas joined 10 other players, including Tim Wakefield, R.A. Dickey and the immortal Sloppy Thurston, for the MLB record.
Mikolas has been prone to the long ball since 2023, having allowed 26 in each of the past two seasons. He’s now allowed 15 through 87 1/3 innings this year.
The Cubs’ fireworks show was ultimately two short of the all-time MLB record for a single game. That honor is held by the 1987 Toronto Blue Jays, who hit 10 during an 18-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles. Ernie Whitt hit three and Rance Mulliniks and George Bell each sent two blasts over the Exhibition Stadium wall.
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