Game 146 Recap vs Pirates
Cardinals fall short of comeback and sweep of Pirates, dropping the finale 4-3
Talk about golden opportunities gone to waste. That’s what this contest held in store for the Redbirds.
Poncedeleon and Taillon battled in this afternoon’s matinee and Taillon was the definition of sharp, scattering 4 hits thru his 7 innings of ball.
The Cards cracked the scoreboard first, and get this, with 2 outs in the bottom of the 1st, go figure. Leadoff Guy worked his 95th walk to begin the inning and swiped his 4th stolen base while he was at it, showing off those blazing wheels. O’Neill and Adams would be retired by Taillon, moving Carp to 3B for Swags (aka the hottest hitter right now.) Swags with a base open, would get pitched to for whatever reason, ripping an RBI single into LF for the 1-0 lead.
Ponce would rack up a healthy amount of k’s this afternoon, ending his day with 7 total thru 5 innings.
Ponce is so damn good at elevating fastballs/cutters that induce swings and misses.
The Pirates would load the bases in the 2nd inning after 3 singles and Stalling would plate one run to tie things at 1-1 with a sac-fly to Bader.
The Pirates would take the lead in the 3rd after an RBI single to LF from Luplow, scoring Marte who had singled prior, making it 2-1.
Mike Mayers, making his first appearance since being activated from the DL, tossed the 6th inning, getting help from Tyler Webb for the final out.
Mayers would give up 4 hits (all singles) in 0.2 innings, giving up two runs on the Stallings single to make it 4-1.
Leone, Cecil, and Shreve would finish out the final 3 innings, each working a scoreless inning, Leone giving up the lone hit.
Leone picked up 2 k’s during his 7th, Cecil induced an inning ending double-play in his 8th, and Shreve would end his 9th with back-to-back punch outs on Frazier and Marte.
Taillon still mowing ‘em down…….
But….
The Cardinals scored a run in the 8th and 9th inning to make a final comeback push very interesting. Cafecíto (pinch-hitting) drove in Kelly on a 5-4 fielder’s choice to make it 4-2.
With Vázquez working his second consecutive inning in search of his 32nd save, Muñoz would leadoff the inning with a single back thru the middle. Gyorko (pinch-hitting) then flew out to Luplow, Bader walked, and Wiz (pinch-hitting) drove in Muñoz with an RBI single to RF, Bader moving up to 3B for Deez and Carp.
Guess what happened? Yup. Vázquez fanned the games final two batters, getting Deez on a heater and Carp looking at a front door slider to halt the Cardinals comeback efforts.
The Cardinals (81-65) welcome the Dodgers (79-67) to town for a 4-game weekend set. As it stands currently, the Cardinals hold the 2nd place WC over the Dodgers by 2 games, so you know how important this series is this weekend, let’s sweep these lingerers.
Big-G, Austin Gomber (5-0, 2.93) gets the ball in game-one as he will be matched up with another lefty, probably the games best lefty, Clayton Kershaw (7-5, 2.42).
Early start time from Busch Stadium, first pitch 6:15 c/t.
Thanks for reading, cheers!
Stew