CHICAGO _ If the Cubs prayed for rain, give them credit. It actually worked.
Nothing else they tried Friday did.
You know it's a rough day when pinch-hitter Tommy La Stella is summoned as a pinch-pitcher, inserted in the sixth inning to save the bullpen with his mid-70s cheese. And when catcher Victor Caratini and outfielder Ian Happ close it out. And when Jon Lester gives up eight runs. And when the microphone goes out on country music singer/guest conductor Canaan Smith.
St. Louis won, 18-5, as 11 Cardinals reached base. They really only needed one guy, though: First baseman Matt Carpenter went 5-for-5 with three homers and two doubles.
The last big-leaguer to do that? Kris Bryant, in 2016.
And before that? No one.
Carpenter's first blast was epic, a drive off the videoboard in right field. He homered again off Lester in the second and took fellow lefty Brian Duensing deep in the sixth.
His 16 total bases tied the Cardinals' single-game franchise record. He also tied Lou Brock's Cardinals record with his 21st career leadoff home run.
But enough about the team that was in danger of falling to .500.
The first sign of trouble for the Cubs came in the first, when Lester did not get the call on a 2-2 pitch near the outside corner. Carpenter hammered his next offering, and Lester was fired up enough to have a few words for home-plate umpire Ben May.
May, of course, was not the problem. Lester threw 86 pitches and got only one swinging strike. The NL's pitcher of the month for June (5-0, 1.13 ERA) retired nine batters, allowing seven hits and walking five.
The Cubs had a couple of bright spots in between two downpours. Willson Contreras homered in his first game back from All-Star festivities, and Kris Bryant went deep for the 11th time this season.
Caratini managed to amuse what remained of the Wrigley Field crowd by lobbing to Cardinals hitters in the eighth. He allowed two runs. Happ worked a scoreless ninth.
Going back to at least 1907, the Cubs had never sent more than one position player to the mound in a game. On Friday they used three.
