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They raked Ben Brown for four two-run homers during a rare power surge. Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar, Alec Burleson and Nolan Gorman all went deep on him.

Chicago’s resulting 8-2 loss was its fourth loss in five games. Over that span, the Cubs allowed 46 runs. Most of that suffering came at windy Wrigley Field, but the Cardinals lit up Brown in pitcher-friendly Busch Stadium.

“This is part of being a young starting pitcher in the league and trying to make progress, as you have to get 15, 18 outs in a game,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell told reporters. “It’s difficult. It’s hard to see now, but there is growth happening. It’s hard to like the growth when there’s struggles going on, but that’s where the best stuff comes from.

"So, we’ve just got to keep working on it and improve the quality of the execution. And keep going.”

(Fans in these parts must remember those words as the Cardinals lean harder on their young starting pitchers. That transition is inevitable with Michael McGreevy pushing for a rotation slot now and prospects like Quinn Mathews, Tekoah Roby and Tink Hence working their way toward the majors.)

The Cardinals’ sudden homer barrage left Brown stunned.

“It just all happened really fast,” Brown said. “It’s really frustrating. It’s going to be tough to sleep tonight, just knowing that I was that close to something really good tonight, and, just as fast, it all went away. It’s hard.”

With Chicago ace Shota Imanaga coming off the injured list to start Thursday at Busch Stadium, Brown seems destined for additional seasoning in the minors.

And the Cubs should enjoy more consistent starting pitching with that change. While Imanaga was sidelined, noted that Matthew Boyd (2.92 ERA in 52 1/3 innings), Jameson Taillon (3.83 ERA in 47 innings) and rookie Cade Horton (3.73 ERA in 41 innings) held up nicely while Colin Rea (5.92 ERA in 48 2/3 innings) and Brown (6.94 ERA in 48 innings) suffered some rough outings.

“There’s going to be things that Shota needs to continue to work on as he’s coming back,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy told . “But just getting him back and having him back with the group of guys, what he brings to the table and just that consistent person he is, too, it’s awesome.”

Here is what folks have been writing about Our National Pastime:

Bob Nightengale, USA Today: “Rival teams would love to get their hands on Cardinals starters Sonny Gray and Miles Mikolas, but they have full no-trade clauses, and have no interest in waiving them . . . While the Los Angeles Angels certainly have some nice trade chips like left-hander Tyler Anderson, closer Kenley Jansen and infielder Luis Rengifo, they don't plan to sell at the trade deadline unless they suddenly fall apart . . . It could be a rather dull trade deadline if teams don’t start dropping out of the race in the next five weeks. Check out the standings: There are only six teams who are out of playoff contention: the Chicago Whit4e Sox and the Athletics in the AL, and the Colorado Rockies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Nationals and Miami Marlins in the NL.”

Mark Feinsand, : “(Sandy) Alcantara . . . should be very available, though the Marlins’ asking price won’t be cheap -- especially now that the right-hander seems to have turned his season around after a brutal two-month start in his return from elbow surgery. Alcantara has a 2.74 ERA in four June starts after beating Braves on Sunday, lowering his season ERA from 8.47 to 6.69 in the process. Now, will the Dodgers do what it takes to acquire the 2022 Cy Young winner? That will likely depend on the status of some of their injured pitchers, specifically Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki. Los Angeles has the makings of an All-Star rotation, but if health continues to be an issue, I wouldn’t be surprised to see president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman get aggressive before the Deadline.”

Alden Gonzalez, : “The Padres have publicly tried to downplay their matchups against the Dodgers in recent years, only to consistently approach them with a clearly heightened intensity. The Dodgers have tried to act as if they're above it, only to get caught in the emotions, too. There's no hiding it anymore: These teams do not like each other. The Padres know their road to NL West supremacy runs through the Dodgers; the Dodgers know the Padres remain one of the biggest obstacles in their hopes of repeating. This rivalry has quickly grown over the past five years, and yet there already seems to be so much history -- with the best likely still to come.”

Jay Jaffe, FanGraphs: “However long his absence is, (Chris) Sale’s loss is a tough blow for the Braves, who struggled out of the gate while Ronald Acuna Jr.  and Spencer Strider recovered from surgeries, losing their first seven games and 13 of their first 18. They briefly clawed their way above .500 in mid-May, went into a funk that knocked them as far as 10 games below .500 (27-37 on June 8), but have since recovered by winning eight of 12. Even so, they’re currently 11 games behind the Phillies in the NL East race and seven games out of the third NL Wild Card spot, with four teams ahead of them. Their Playoff Odds are just 26.7%. Last year marked not only Sale’s first Cy Young win — he’d finished second, third, fourth (twice), fifth (twice) and sixth in the voting previously — but also his first season avoiding the injured list since 2017. This injury probably closes the door on another award-winning season just when he had pitched his way back into consideration after being lit for a 6.17 ERA in 23 1/3 innings over his first five starts, never lasting longer than five innings. He’s posted a major league-best 1.23 ERA (with a 2.22 FIP) in 66 innings over his last 10 turns.”

Matt Snyder, : “There's been a lot of variance with these two teams at the top of the NL East this season. The Mets have had a lead as big as five games while the Phillies have had a lead as big as 3 ½ games. That's a pretty wide spread between two good teams before we even finish June.  We just saw the two teams face off for a three-game series over the weekend and the Phillies now sit one game ahead of the Mets after taking the set 2-1 (the Mets swept the Phillies earlier this year).”

Steve Buckley, The Athletic: “If aesthetics aren’t enough to inspire a Red Sox fan to not turn the page on (Rafael) Devers, there’s this: It might be a long, long time, as in four or five years, before it can be determined whether it was the Giants or the Red Sox who ‘won’ the trade. No need to rehash old stuff here, other than to state the obvious: If Devers ages fast and because of that his swing goes south, the Sox will be looked upon as smarties for having unloaded an overpaid player whose contract runs through 2033. But if he turns out to be the long-term franchise slugger the Giants have been looking for, that’s another story. But there’s also the ‘right now’ about the trade, and right now, the Red Sox aren’t as good a team as they were when they had Devers in the lineup.” 

MEGAPHONE

“He can do everything. He can hit, he can throw, he's got the wheels, he's got the power – we saw it tonight. He's a total package. It's fun to watch a guy like that in the middle of your lineup; just electric. You don't want to see him come up with guys on base, or honestly, in any situation.”

New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, on Cincinnati Reds star Elly De La Cruz.