Defeating the St. Louis Cardinals is always nice from the Cubs’ point of view, and the three-game sweep completed Sunday with a 2-0 shutout win (the Cubs’ 15th shutout of the year) was particularly gratifying.

First, just because. But also because they got good pitching out of Javier Assad (5.1 shutout innings, six strikeouts) and three nice frames from Jordan Wicks, who had a rough year overall but ended it well and posted his first big-league save.

Assad and Cardinals opener Kyle Leahy matched zeroes for the first three innings, and Assad continued through five. Then the Cubs got on the board in the fifth on a leadoff homer from Seiya Suzuki, his 32nd [VIDEO].

For Suzuki, after a very long home-run drought, he’s now hit five in his last four games. It’s just the right time for him (an

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