Cardinals sweep four-game set vs Dodgers with another comeback victory, 11-7, win fifth straight
Take I
Michael Wacha vs Walker Buehler. Sounds like a pitcher’s duel type of game, right? What if I told you neither starter would pitch the 5th inning?
The truth is, both starters didn’t have anywhere near their best stuff today, laying in meatballs, leaving flat pitches up in the zone, and the results, similarly, were the same.
I will note, the wind was something fierce today, blowing all over the outfield at about 16mph, leaving hotdog wrappers everywhere in RF.
The Dodgers played long ball with Wacha flocka, sending him deep three times thru his 3.2 innings. Joc Pederson got things rolling leading off the game with a triple that bounced around the corner, sending Cafecíto in circles. It was very amusing, even though the leadoff hitter was standing over at 3B.
Scarecrow Turner wasted no time driving Joc in, sending a sac fly to Bader to make it 1-0 Dodgers. Wacha picked up his first of three k’s for the second out of the inning, getting AJ Pollock on a heater, after Seager singled into RF. Muncy then grounded into the shift, bouncing one to KoWo for the final out.
Walker Buehler’s turn. And he wasn’t playing games in the bottom half of the 1st, working an easy 1-2-3, striking out Goldy (slider) and Deez Nuts (four-seam fastball) to send things to the 2nd inning.
David Freese opened up the top of the 2nd sending his first HR of the season over the LF wall to make it 2-0 Dodgers. This felt weird and not the good weird.
Wacha retired the next two to bring in his counterpart, Walker Buehler. And Ferris would get the best of Wacha, sending a two strike offering over the wall in RCF to make it 3-0 Dodgers, his first career HR.
That HR must’ve taken some juice out of him for a short stint, as the Cardinals would regain the lead in the bottom of the 2nd, scoring four runs to tie it 4-4.
Cafecíto and Prince Sex, both starting today with the getaway day lineup, led off the inning with base hits into LF, bringing in the Trap House himself, Jedd Gyorko. Trap worked the best plate appearance of the day, battling back down 0-2 to draw a free pass. Haaaaaaarry then drove in the most painful rbi of his career, getting plunked directly on the back of the left elbow with a 97mph fastball from Buehler.
Matt Wieters, making his first start with the Cards, knocked a sac fly to Pederson in LF, scoring Prince Sex to make it 3-2. After Wacha laid down a great 1-4 sac bunt, the top of the order and KoWo would come up. And this is the exact moment when you knew it was gonna be “one of those games.”
KoWo would draw a two out walk, but not before Buehler let a slider get away from him, missing Wong somehow, bouncing off the backstop close to the Cards dugout, scoring Trap House and Haaaaaarry all the way from second base (standing up) to make it 4-3 Cards.
butttttttttttttttttt, that wouldn’t last long….
The Dodgers plated, what would turn out to be, their final runs of the game in the 3rd, retaking the lead at 7-4. Turner and Seager led the inning off with back-to-back hits, a single to CF and a double off the Cards bullpen. With runners in scoring position and nobody out, Pollock got an easy rbi, hitting a sac fly to Bader to tie it up 4-4. With Seager at 3B and one out, the Cardinals would play their infield in with Muncy at bat. Muncy would ground out to KoWo, holding Seager at 3B. Then David Freese happened again, sending a two out, two strike single into shallow LF for the rbi. Kiké Hernández kept adding salt on the wound, bashing his 4th HR of the season into the Dodgers pen to open it up to a 7-4 Dodgers lead.
The Cardinals cut into the deficit a bit in the bottom of the 3rd, as Pauly Deez extended his hitting streak to 12-games with a double that kept carrying in the wind to RCF. Cafecíto then collected an infield single back slowly to Buehler’s left, putting runners on the corners with nobody out. Buehler picked up strikeout number three on Prince Sex next, sending him packing on a four-seamer.
Don’t worry, the Trap House is back. And Jedd made it known, ripping an rbi single the opposite way to RF to bring the score to 7-5.
Take II
This is when the Dodgers bats go ice cold and the Cardinals wake up, and baseball, ya know?
So the Dodgers would only muster two more hits from the 4th inning on, both singles that wouldn’t come around to score because the strikeout monster that happened to be the Cards pen today.
Gallegos (1.1IP), Webb* (1.1IP), G-Spot Gant (1.2IP), Miller* (1IP) would combine to throw 5.1 scoreless today, walking none, striking out eight.
Gallegos and Miller* both had three k’s, both striking out the side in separate innings. Gallegos struck out Freese, Hernández, and Gale after giving up a leadoff single to Muncy in the 5th.
The Cards retook the lead, again, in the bottom of the 5th, scoring four more runs to make it 9-7. The human rain delay, Pedro Báez, would take the L in today’s contest, as the Cardinals had some fun while he was in for the 5th.
The Cards would play station to station with the innings first three batters (Deez, Cafecíto, and Prince Sex), as each would single to load the bases for Jedd.
Báez didn’t give Trap any fastball or fast stuff in general, giving him a good dose of changeups, striking him out to bring in Haaaaaarry Bader.
Now, I don’t know the odds of this, or if it’s even happened before, but Haaaaarry would get his 2nd rbi of the game the same exact way as he got his 1st, getting plunked by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Deez.
The backup fella, Wieters, wanted to place his stamp on the afternoon, so he ripped a two-run single into RF to score Martínez and O’Neill to make it 8-7 Cards.
Carp would grab a bat and pinch-hit for Gallegos, striking out on a Báez changeup for the second out. KoWo just has things going his way right now, as the baseball gods graced him with a Max Muncy error on a grounder into the outfield grass, scoring Bader to make it 9-7 advantage for da Birds.
After Gallegos struck out the side to end the 5th, the Cards pen would retire the next eleven in-a-row.
And Cafecíto put his final stamp on things as well, having a career day, sending an rbi double to RF to score Deez from 1B after a leadoff walk.
With Bader batting and two outs, García would throw a pitch to the backstop, bouncing directly back to Gale, who threw to Turner at 3B, trying to get Martínez. The throw would get by Turner into LF, and Café came around to score to make it 11-7.
Andrew Miller, who’s slider looks to be back to normal after these past couple outings, tossed the final inning, striking out the side. Verdugo and Pederson both looked stoooopid whiffing at Miller’s slider, and Bellinger got tied up with high cheese for the games final out.
With the win, the Cardinals have now won five-straight games, sweeping the four-game set from the Dodgers. If you would’ve told me that would be the outcome of the series, I wouldn’t have believed you.
Top 3 Plays
3.) Pauly Deez 12 game hitting streak continues; Cafecíto (4-5) and Wieters (3 rbi) have big games
2.) Bader’s dash home from 2B on Buehler’s wild pitch
1.) The Cards bullpen, the get the MVP of the series. (15.2IP, 7 bb, 20 k’s, 1er)
The Cardinals (8-5) have Friday off as they are on a #HappyFlight to Monterrey, Mexico to take on the Reds (4-8) Saturday and Sunday. Uncle Charlie (1-0, 4.50) looking to duplicate his last start gets the ball in game-one of a two-game set. Tanner Roark (0-0, 5.79) will oppose Waino. First pitch 6:10pm c/t.
Cheers, Stew