SONNY GRAY CARDINAL DEBUT DAY!!!!! And oooooooooohhhhhh boi, what a treat we got to see tonight!
Sonny Gray took the mound tonight tasked with a 65-pitch limit and he made the most of it. He would open things up with a 15-pitch, 1-2-3, frame. He would pick up his first Cardinal strikeout to end the 1st, getting Harper on a beauty of a curve.
After a 5-pitch 1st from Wheeler, Sonny was back out for his second inning of work. He’d open it with a strikeout of Realmuto, getting him on an 88mph cutter. Bohm singled next, but was quickly erased on a nifty double play from Masyn Winn up the middle.
Sonny would open his third inning with his third punch out, getting Castellanos looking like a bish at a perfectly painted curve.
The 4th inning was probably my favorite inning of Sonny’s tonight. After a leadoff, infield, single from Turner, he’d buckle down.
Harper and Realmuto would go down on strikes, both getting untouchable sweepers. Bohm would then rip a ball to Arenado who made a tough play to snare it and fire it over to Goldy for the final out, stranding Turner on base.
NORMMMMM would be sure to get his starter some run support in the Cardinals half of the 4th, smoking his 3rd HR of the year to CF (419 feet)!! It has seriously felt like a million years since the Cardinals scored on Zack Wheeler, bless Norm.
With his pitch count looming, one out, and back-to-back lucky infield hits from Castellanos and Marsh, Oli would come out to the mound to talk strategy with Sonny.
And Sonny escaped, getting Rojas to ground into a 6-4-3 double play, ending Sonny’s evening one pitch shy of his 65 limit.
The Cardinals added their final two runs in the bottom half of the 5th, opening the inning with back-to-back hits from Burly (single) and Winn (double). Scott then collected his first career rbi with a sac-fly to LF. Donovan kept it moving with a slow tapper to Harper to score Winn, making it a 3-0 game.
The bullpen (Lib-Kittredge-JoJo-Helsley) would work the final 4 innings scoreless to complete their first shutout of the season. Helsley came in pumping ched and breaking off nasty sliders, striking out Stott (101mph heater) and Marsh (91mph slider) to pick up his 4th save.
The Cardinals send Lance Lynn (0-0, 4.15) to the mound tomorrow afternoon, looking for their third series win in a row. Lynn will be matched up against Aaron Nola (1-1, 5.40). First pitch is scheduled for 12:15pm c/t, but plan accordingly for a chance of rain.
🍻 Cheers, Stew
Shout out to @Martinez_Hooked for the photo from the game tonight which we used as the cover photo