Mikolas cruises to 17th win with 7 strong innings, Carp belts 36th HR, Cafecíto & Muñoz drive in pair, sweep Giants 9-2
The Liz King delivered one of the best starts all season this afternoon, no-hitting the Giants thru the first 4 innings, striking out 4. In fact, he had a perfect game up until Muñoz dropped a pop out with 2 outs in the 4th inning, allowing Longoria to reach base. Mikolas was efficient too, like even better than his standards. Here’s his pitch count by inning: (8, 13, 15, 11, 11, 10, 28) So outside of his final inning in the 7th, he was spectacular, pounding the zone for strikes 75% of the time.
Nick Hundley would rip the first base hit for SF this afternoon, leading off the top of the 5th with a double down the LF line. But no worries, Mik took a deep breath and retired the next three he faced, striking out Shaw with the cheese for his 5th k of the day. Hanson and Garcîa would pop out to end the inning.
The Cardinals had already scored 2 runs by this time off of Giants starter, Andrew Suárez*. The Cards collected three singles in the bottom of the 2nd, jumping out to a 1-0 advantage. Trap House and Yadi hit back-to-back one out singles to bring in Bader, who would end up being the second strikeout victim on the day for Suárez. Muñoz, still playing 2B for the injured Wong, came up in the big situation again, lining an RBI single Into LF to score Gyorko.
The Liz King himself would contribute with a little bit of offense of his own in the bottom of the 4th. Bader got into scoring position with one out, blooping a double into shallow RF, any other player would’ve still been standing at 1B. Muñoz would line out to RF, brining in Mikolas. Mikolas lined an RBI single into RF to bring home Tots to extend the lead to 2-0 Cards, Mikolas’ 6th RBI of the season.
Suárez final inning of work came with a 1-2-3 5th inning, picking up back-to-back strikeouts to open the inning on Cafecíto and DeJong (golden sombrero).
Mikolas delivered a quick and easy, 10 pitch, 6th inning. He would pick up his 6th and 7th k’s of the afternoon to begin the inning, getting d’Arnaud and Blanco.
Ray Black found his way into the game from the SF pen to work the bottom of the 6th, getting stung for 4 runs, Johnson getting charged with the 5th. The first four batters the Cards sent to the plate all reached base. Trap House walked, Yadi poked his classic single into RF (by the way, YADI WEEK at BotB, let’s go!!!!!) Haaaaaaarry then bunted a ball to the right-side, reaching base safely with a safety squeeze, bringing in Wisdom, who took over pinch-running for Gyorko after he reached base. Muñoz then drove in his second run of the afternoon, singling into LF, bringing in Yadi to make it 4-0. Mikolas then laid down a perfect sac-bunt, to bring in Carp. Okert would come in to face Carp, giving him the lefty/lefty battle. Okert won getting him to pop out.
Cafecíto then drove in Bader and Muñoz to make it 6-0, ripping a double into LF off the newly entered reliever, Pierce Johnson. Prince Sex would lift José, pinch-running for him and scoring on a Pauly Deez single into LF to make it 7-0.
Mik ran into his only rough patch in the 7th inning, giving up a 2-run bomb to Crawford. He escaped the inning after 28 pitches, striking out his 8th and final batter, Nick Hundley on a fastball.
Liz King’s final line: (7IP, 2 hits, 2r/1er, 0 bb, 8 k’s, 96 pitches)
Brebs would throw the 8th inning for the Cards today, serving up back-to-back one out singles to Pence (pinch-hitting) and Blanco. Panik and Longoria would go down next, stranding runners at the corners, Longo whiffing at the good ole slide piece from the Brebs.
Danny Mac had an epic HR call this afternoon in the bottom of the 8th with the Leadoff Guy at the dish. Carpenter had been smoking the ball with nothing to show for it all day, on top of being due for a HR, Danny Mac called it. Like perfectly, a pitch before it happened to boot. Next pitch, see ya later to RF for Carp’s 36th HR of the season, a 2-run shot to make 9-2.
Edmundo Sosa, making his Big League debut, scored on the Carpenter HR, after drawing a lead off walk (pinch-hitting) on Kelly.
Another debut occurred out of the Cards bullpen today in the 9th inning, as Giovanny Gallegos, acquired in the Luke Voit trade, toed the rubber. His stuff looked good too, particularly his slider. Gallegos struck out Crawford and Hundley back-to-back to open the inning before giving up a single to Shaw. Hanson then flew out to García in LF for the games final out, finishing off a weekend sweep of the Giants.
The Cardinals (87-69) welcome the Brewers (89-67) to STL tomorrow evening for a 3-game set. Jack Flaherty (8-8, 3.08) gets the ball in game-one as the Brewers will counter with a bullpen game according to Craig Counsell. Chase Anderson was scratched from the start, as he was in line to make the start Monday night. First pitch from the beautiful Busch Stadium is 7:15 c/t.
Thanks for reading, cheers! Happy #YadiWeek
Game 156 is in the books
by Stew/@StewStilez