There’s not much that Wrigley Field hasn’t seen in its 112-year history as the home of the Chicago Cubs.
There have been plenty of rain delays.
There have been some — albeit rare — fireworks shows.
Fog has rolled through the Friendly Confines before too.
But all three in one night? Saturday might have marked a first. The Cubs experienced a 58-minute rain delay before their 3-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, endured a 15-minute fog delay before the start of the seventh inning and, to top it all off, had a postgame fireworks show to commemorate the Fourth of July.
“That was brutal,” Cubs All-Star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong said. “I’ve never seen anything like that. I’ll just leave it at that. I’ve really never been a part of anything like that. It was reminiscent of when I was a kid playing rec ball soccer and stuff like that.”
Baseball felt, at times, almost secondary because of the wackiness of the night.
A large thunderstorm barreled through Wrigley Field, causing a nearly one-hour delay before a pitch was even thrown. When the rain cleared, an American flag that covered most of the outfield was unfurled during the national anthem, and the fog slowly crept in.
The haze grew as Cardinals second baseman JJ Wetherholt hit the first pitch of the game off Cubs starter Shota Imanaga for an opposite-field home run. Visibility lessened as the Cardinals tacked on a third-inning insurance run and, by the sixth inning, clearly began to affect play.
Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn hit a flyout to Crow-Armstrong, who zigzagged a bit before making a slightly awkward catch for the first out of the frame.
“It was playable and then at some point, at least from our perspective, the upper deck disappeared, the flag in center field disappeared,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “I know that Pete caught in center field, our other fielders had a little bit of a trouble seeing it.”
Cardinals third baseman José Fermín appeared to raise his hands to signal he couldn’t locate a foul ball that ended up in the upper deck down the third-base line in the bottom of the sixth.
When Ian Happ made the final out of the frame, the umpires convened and called a delay, a rare stoppage because of the fog-shrouded Wrigley Field.
The crowd of 38,872 joined in singing John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” as the delay began. The song has emerged during the World Cup, with U.S. players joining tens of thousands of fans in singing it at the end of matches.
When play resumed, the weather took a turn.
“It didn’t affect anything that happened in the game,” Counsell said. “Just talking to (Happ) during the game, never seen anything like it. It was heavy fog and there was the period of time when they stopped the game that you couldn’t see a fly ball.”
The fog then cleared, and it looked and felt like a perfect summer night. But the Cubs’ offensive malaise remained.
They stranded Nico Hoerner at first base after a leadoff single in the seventh. Crow-Armstrong and Alex Bregman reached to start the eighth but were stranded on second and third. The Cubs were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base in the loss.
Imanaga recovered a bit after the leadoff home run, but the Cardinals lineup coaxed long at-bats and drove up his pitch count, chasing the left-hander from the game after 4 2/3 innings.
It was his second-shortest outing of the season, a bit of a letdown for a pitching staff that has been crushed by the injury bug this season. The Cubs have 13 pitchers on the injured list, and Imanaga is the only starter from their opening-day rotation to have not hit the IL.
“What’s so important about Shota this year is he’s made every start,” Counsell said before the game. “And in a season where we’ve had a lot happen, we’ve been able to count on Shota and Colin (Rea), frankly. That’s a good feeling.
“So, you are kind of looking around to when Shota’s day is coming because it feels stable a little bit and we’ve needed that this year and our team has needed that this year.”
Cubs sign Woodford
The Cubs’ seemingly endless search for pitching continued Saturday as they signed right-hander Jake Woodford to a major-league contract. The team designated right-hander Bryse Wilson for assignment to make room for Woodford on the roster.
Woodford, 29, posted a 6.94 ERA in 16 games for the Milwaukee Brewers this season before he was designated for assignment on June 5. He stayed in the Brewers’ minor-league system, pitching for Triple-A Nashville before exercising an opt-out clause.
He has a lifetime 5.25 ERA in 127 games across parts of seven seasons. Woodford’s best year came in 2022 with the Cardinals, when he posted a 2.23 ERA in 27 games.
“I think we’re trying to create some availability and make sure that regardless of what happens in a game, that we’re ready for the next game,” Counsell said before Saturday’s contest.
Wilson allowed seven runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings in Friday’s 17-1 blowout loss to the Cardinals. He made two appearances for the Cubs, tossing 4 1/3 scoreless innings in the first outing against the Brewers on June 28.
Injury updates
Matt Shaw (left hand sprain) will not return until after the All-Star break, Counsell said Saturday. Shaw still isn’t participating in baseball activities, and “the next significant test will be midweek this week.”
Right-hander Jameson Taillon (left hamstring strain) is scheduled to pitch in a rehab assignment with High A South Bend on Sunday.
Andy Martinez is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune. Associated Press contributed.
