Cubs clinch home field for Wild Card series as Michael Busch sparks offense against Cardinals

Michael Busch homered twice, tripled, doubled and drove in four runs to help the Chicago Cubs clinch home-field advantage for their National League wild-card series with a 7-3 win against the visiting St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday afternoon.

Seiya Suzuki and Pete Crow-Armstrong also homered for the Cubs (91-70), who will open the playoffs against the visiting San Diego Padres next Tuesday.

Cubs starter Jameson Taillon (11-7) allowed one run and three hits over six innings. He struck out eight and walked two.

Cardinals rookie right-hander Michael McGreevy (8-4) went 4 2/3 innings, allowing three runs and six hits while striking out three and walking two.

Nolan Arenado and Jordan Walker homered for the Cardinals (78-83), who have lost three in a row following a three-game winning streak.

After the Cardinals stranded runners on the corners in the first, Busch hit the first pitch in the bottom half of the inning over the fence in right for a 1-0 lead.

Arenado came up with one out in the fourth and lifted a fastball over the fence in left for a solo home run that tied it 1-1.

Busch went the other way and doubled into the left-center field gap with one out in the third, but he was stranded at third.

He came up for a third time with a runner on first and one out in the fifth and went the other way again, clearing the fence in left for a two-run homer that moved the Cubs back ahead 3-1.

Busch has a team-high 34 home runs in just his second full MLB season.

Suzuki blasted his 31st home run of the season off Ryan Fernandez to lead off the sixth and extend the lead to 4-1.

Caleb Thielbar relieved Taillon to start the seventh and surrendered a two-out two-run homer to Walker that cut the lead to 4-3.

Busch came up in the bottom half of the inning with Matt Shaw on first and tripled into the right-center field gap to make it 5-3.

Crow-Armstrong blasted his 31st home run of the season in the eighth with a runner aboard to extend the lead to 7-3.

Busch needed a single to hit for the cycle when he came up with two outs in the inning, but he was intentionally walked with a runner on third base.

--Field Level Media