CHICAGO: Michael Busch smacked three home runs and the Chicago Cubs belted a team-record eight homers to defeat visiting St Louis 11-3 on Friday at historic Wrigley Field. The Cubs, a founding member of the National League in 1876, unleashed US Independence Day fireworks with a club-record six homers in the first three innings of their Major League Baseball contest. They added two more in the seventh to break the old Cubs mark for homers in a game of seven, set several times but most recently on August 1, 2023 against Cincinnati.

Busch, a 27-year-old American obtained in a trade last year with the Los Angeles Dodgers, became the first Cubs first baseman with three homers in a game since legend Ernie Banks in 1963. Busch was also the third Cub with a three-homer outing on the July 4 holiday, joining Moises Alou and Hank Leiber. “It’s just really cool to get the win and to celebrate so many good days by the guys,” Busch said. “I think that was my first three-homer game ever.”

Seiya Suzuki, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Busch and Carson Kelly combined for the six early homers off Cardinals 36-year-old right-handed starting pitcher Miles Mikolas. Suzuki, a 30-year-old Japanese designated hitter who played nine seasons for the Japan League’s Hiroshima Toyo Carp before joining the Cubs in 2022, began the onslaught with a two-out homer to left-centerfield in the first inning, his 24th homer of the year. Crow-Armstrong, the next batter, smashed his 22nd homer of the season to right-centerfield to give Chicago a 2-0 edge.

In the second inning, Busch and Kelly duplicated the back-to-back homers feat, both on solo shots to centerfield for a 4-0 Cubs lead. In the third inning, Crow-Armstrong — who went 4-for-4 at the plate — bashed a solo homer to right field and Busch added a two-run homer to right field, his 16th homer of the campaign for a 7-0 Cubs advantage. After trading runs with St. Louis in the fourth and fifth innings, the Cubs’ sluggers struck again in the seventh when Dansby Swanson hit a two-run homer, his 15th of the season, to centerfield. Busch followed next with his 17th homer of the year and third of the game to complete the third set of back-to-back homers on the day for the Cubs. — AFP