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Tucked within his answers about not speaking in absolutes and how quickly things can change, Mozeliak sought to compliment what this club has done by contrasting it with the 2023 club that spiraled into the trade deadline.

“Not too many games have we been like, ‘Oh no, we’re out of it,’� the president of baseball operations said.

Within hours, one more added to that list.

The first-place Chicago Cubs put on a historic show of power befitting the Fourth of July. There were the early bursts of color, the teasers of what’s to come with back-to-back homers in the first inning off starter Miles Mikolas and then an encore in the second inning. There were the awe-spiring comets sent high and far to ricochet off Wrigley Field’s right-field scoreboard twice in the third inning. And there was the percussive, pyrotechnic grand finale that every fireworks display requires: A pair of homers in the seventh that on back-to-back swings tied the club record for homers in a single season and then reset it with eight — more than any other club had hit in any of the previous 149 years of Cubdom.

Michael Busch hit three home runs and second-year sensation Pete Crow-Armstrong hit two on their way to a 11-3 victory Friday afternoon. And the score wasn’t as lopsided as the game. The eight-homer barrage is the most ever allowed by the Cardinals in a single game, let alone one they were never in.

“We got our (lunch) handed to us,� manager Oliver Marmol said. “It’s not one specific thing. We gave up 132 homers. Let’s say what it is. For me, it’s not flat. … There is a difference between being flat and giving in and just being beat. They beat us.�

For the past week, as they listed through three shutouts in Pittsburgh, the Cardinals stressed how exhaustion and injuries from a 15-game, 14-day stretch were accumulating on the club. Two of their most-established hitters, Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras, missed most of the Pirates series with bruises to their hands. The Cardinals saw Thursday’s off day in Chicago as an oasis — a respite after a grueling June schedule, a reset at the midpoint of the season, and a chance to rest ahead of a weighty series against their archrival.

It took two batters for the Cubs to deliver a wakeup call. Crow-Armstrong went parallel to the grass to rob Masyn Winn of an extra-base hit in the first inning. In the bottom of the inning, Crow-Armstrong’s first of four hits doubled the Cubs’ lead to 2-0. The calendar told the Cardinals it was a Friday, but it acted like a Monday.

The Cardinals’ scoreless streak against National League foes reached 52 innings before Brendan Donovan lofted a home run to lead off the fourth inning. When he reached home, the Cardinals trailed, 7-1. That was the only hit the Cardinals got against Cubs starter Colin Rea (6-3) in 6 2/3 innings. On a day the Cubs peppered the bleachers with homers and had 13 hits to go with 11 runs, Wrigley seemed friendly to hitters. It was only confining for the Cardinals. Donovan’s hit was their only hit in the first eight innings. The Cardinals did not get a second hit until the Cubs put in a position player, and the Cubs had a club-record three pairs of back-to-back home runs before the Cardinals had back-to-back baserunners.

“The conditions were (good for hitters),� Mikolas said, “in the fact that I threw a lot of really hittable pitches. I don’t think they had any cheap ones today.�

The Cubs hit back-to-back homers with two outs in the first and opened the second with back-to-back homers. Seven batters into the game and Mikolas had allowed more homers (four) than he had outs (three), and by the time he got his eighth out, the Cubs had six homers and a 7-0 lead. He is the first Cardinals pitcher to allow six homers in a game, surpassing the previous record set in 1954 by Harvey Haddix and matched in 1989 by Scott Terry.

The feats happened faster than they could be identified as feats.

The public address announcer in the press box was detailing how Seiya Suzuki and Crow-Armstrong’s homers in the first inning were the eighth back-to-back homers this season for the Cubs, and he didn’t finish the previous time’s date before Busch and Carson Kelly hit back-to-back homers in the second inning. The same Cubs official was telling the media about how Crow-Armstrong’s homer in the third inning traveled 414 feet and became the 25th homer to hit the right-fielder scoreboard.

He said 25th as Busch hit the 26th with a 428-foot blast to the scoreboard.

In the seventh, Dansby Swanson’s two-run homer gave the Cubs seven in the game, and an announcement appeared on the scoreboard that the club record had been tied. The next swing was Busch breaking the record, forcing a quick edit of the factoid on the scoreboard.

The three pairs of back-to-back homers also set a club record. The Cubs logged 3,249 feet in total distance with their homers, 1,205 of them from Busch’s trio.

He’s the third Cub to hit three homers on Independence Day.

Moises Alou and Hank Leiber also did it and also against the Cardinals.

The Cubs’ six homers in the first three innings set a club record going back to the centennial celebrations of 1876. Mikolas (4-6) misplaced several pitches in the first inning, and it appeared as if the Cubs had a jump in him and when a fastball was coming the next few innings. Long about the fourth inning, Mikolas’ purpose pivoted to collecting outs so that the bullpen wouldn’t have to — and become vulnerable for the two remaining games of the season. Mikolas retired the 11 of the final 13 batters he faced to get through six innings.

“It’s how much can I eat up so our bullpen doesn’t get torched right there and we compromise the rest of the series,� Mikolas said. “That’s a small victory that might help me get an hour of sleep. That’s part of the game. I’m not having a great game but I’m not going to let my team — I let them down in one way. I’m not going to let them down in every way I can think of.�

The Cardinals’ fourth consecutive loss dropped than 6 1/2 games behind the division-leading Cubs. Another loss in this series and they’ll leave Chicago trailing the Cubs in the standings by more games than they have remaining against the Cubs.

Some holiday that was.

“It’s really disappointing,� Mikolas said. “Fourth of July. Chicago. I was really excited for this start. Really pumped up. And I wanted it to go well, and it didn’t. I’ve got to live with that.�