Gomber delivers 6 scoreless to guide the Cardinals to their 8th straight win, Bader does it all, Birds devastate Nats 4-2
Innings 1-3:
Austin Gomber put together another solid outing this evening, the rookie left-hander held the Nats at bay, holding them hitless through the first 3 frames.
Gomber would total 40 pitches through his first 3 innings, picking up 2 strikeouts along the way, getting Turner on a high slider to begin the night and his counterpart, Hellickson, looking at a fastball.
Jedd Trap House was open for business early tonight, a rarity for the Trap-star, but I’ll take it. Jedd would take away an infield single from the speedy Trea Turner to end the 3rd inning.
The Cardinals were held fairly quite through their first 3 innings at the dish as well, collecting one hit, but it was the kinda hit that puts you on the scoreboard. After Hellickson retired the side in order in the bottom of the 1st, Swags opened the bottom of the 2nd inning mashing a hanging breaking pitch over the LF wall for his 14th HR. Swags obliterated the knuckle-curve too, sending it 416 feet at 114 mph off the bat.
Hellickson would retire the side in the 3rd inning, striking out Bader on a changeup to begin the inning.
Innings 4-6:
Gomber would find himself in a pickle his .4th inning of work, walking Rendon after Soto flew out to LF.
HAAAAAAAARRY, with eight a’s, would rob Bryce Harper of extra bases for the second out, laying out full extension, sprinting to his right in the LCF gap to make a sensational grab. Zimmerman singled to CF following the Bader play, and Murphy would work a free pass to load the bases for Michael A Taylor.
Gomber ended the inning with a huge strikeout of Taylor, getting him looking at some fast ched, stranding the bases loaded. Gomber was pumped coming off the mound!!
The Cardinals would also strand the bases juiced in their half of the 4th inning, getting things rolling with a leadoff walk to Yadi. Cafecíto followed the walk with a base-hit into RF, bringing in Swags, who would ground into a 5-unassisted fielder’s choice, beating the throw from Rendon at 1B. DeJong then grounded out to Rendon, but both runners were on the move, making sure the Cards stayed out of the double-play. Hellickson would hit Trap House with a pitch to load the bases next, bringing in one of the hottest hitters, Kolten Wong. Hellickson won the battle, getting Wong to pop out to Turner to end the inning.
Gomber would give up a two-out triple to RF to Turner in the top of the 5th, bringing in the scary part of their order. Gant would issue a free pass to Soto to set up a matchup with Rendon. Gomber ended the inning getting Rendon to fly out to Cafecíto.
Haaaaaaaarry opened the bottom of the 5th with a double to CF, moving up to 3B after the perfect sac-bunt from Gomber. With Carp batting and two bases open, the Nats elected to put him on for free with the IBB. With Yadi batting, Hellickson would throw a wild pitch that didn’t even scoot that far away from Kieboom, but Haaaaaaaarry doesn’t need much room to make exciting things happen. Bader would come flying in, sliding across home head first to make it 2-0 Cards. Hellickson would twist up his legs with Bader on the play, falling and injuring his pitching hand. After a few warm up tosses, he decided that was it and Suero came in for the second time this series. With Carp moving up to 3B on the wild pitch, Yadi would greet Suero upon entering with an RBI single to RF to make it 3-0.
Gomber’s final inning was his best. After allowing a leadoff double to RF to Harper, the lefty would strikeout the side: Zimmerman swinging and missing at a slider, Murphy swinging and missing at a fastball, and Taylor going down on the fastball.
The Cardinals made sure to tack on another insurance run in the bottom of the 6th, as it came with another two-out rally. After Pauly Deez and Trap House flew out, Wong singled into CF and wasted no time swiping 2B, his 4th steal of the season. Haaaaaaaarry made the most of the stolen bag, lining an RBI single into CF to score Wong to make it 4-0. Tim Collins would come in relief to get the last out, Greg Garcia (pinch-hitting) going down looking at a curveball.
Innings 7-9:
Poncedeleon would attempt another 3 inning save for Shildt and the bullpen, throwing 26 pitches his first two innings, while picking up a strikeout. Ponce retired the side in order in the 7th on 15 pitches, getting Eaton (pinch-hitting) to whiff at a cutter offering.
Matt Grace would throw the final innings for the Nats pen, hitting Carp with a pitch on top of his right hand to open the 7th. After getting checked out by the trainer, Carp would be removed from the game, making every Cardinals fan suffer from tight cheeks syndrome.
X-RAYS CAME BACK NEGATIVE THOUGH.
Pauly Deez flashed some leather to open up the 8th, leaping up to snag away a base-hit from the NL ROY, Juan Soto. Rendon and Harper then connected for back-to-back singles, bringing in Zimmerman. Ponce then induced an inning-ending double play ball, getting Zimmerman to ground out 6-4-3 on the play.
Ponce found himself back on the bump for the final inning, looking to pick up his 2nd save. Daniel Murphy led the inning off with a solo HR to RF, putting the Nats on the board, still trailing 4-1. Taylor followed the HR with a double to RF, drawing the end of the line for Ponce.
Bud Norris would come in for the final 3 outs, looking for save #23 on the season. Norris would get back-to-back pinch-hitters in Matt Adams and Matt Wieters. Adams would pop out to Trap House in foul-territory, Wieters would hit a sac-fly to LF, bringing in Taylor to cut the Cards lead in half at 4-2. Turner would fly out to Haaaaaaaarry Bader to end the game for a 4-2 Cardinals victory and save #23 for Bud.
With the win, the Cardinals (66-55) have now won six-straight series, while extending their winning streak to 8 games, all while being a season best 11 games over (.500). Don’t look now, but that second wildcard spot is very interesting, if only the Red Sox would’ve won tonight, I mean they win every night, right?
Luke “aluminum container” Weaver (6-10, 4.66) looks to finish off the four-game sweep of the Nats tomorrow night. Weaver will be countered with Tanner Roark (7-12, 4.12).
First pitch 6:15 c/t.
Thanks for reading, cheers!
Stew
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