John Gant would head to the mound this afternoon after a lengthy two hour and twenty minute rain delay, looking to keep the string of Cardinals solid starts by the rotation going strong. He’d do just that.
And with the help from the bats with a 1st inning run in the bottom half of the opening inning, that was all G Spot needed to work with today.
Gant would toss an 18-pitch opening frame, striking out his final two victims in Votto (slider) and Suárez (sinker looking).
Tommy Edman would leadoff the Cards half of the inning how he normally does things, with an easy looking at bat, driving a single off Wade Miley over Suárez head. Edman has reached base safely in 19 of the 20 games to start the season- something you definitely want to see out of your leadoff hitter.
Carlson, newly entered to the two-spot yesterday, followed up with a single of his own into CF to put runners on for Goldy/Nado with nobody out. Edman and Carlson could very well turn into a lethal combo to set the table early in games, especially the way they both give you top notch at bats.
Goldy would ground into a fielder’s choice to India unassisted, putting runners on the corners for Arenado. Nado would drive an RBI single into RF, going with the pitch to make it 1-0 early.
Gant would basically coast in cruise control the rest of his outing, working a quick 10-pitch inning in the 2nd. Erasing an India single with a 4-6-3 DP off the bat of Barnhart.
Miley would match Gant’s 10-pitch frame with one of his own, striking out his counterpart looking at an 86mph cutter to end the inning.
The Cardinals defense had a fun time robbing Suárez of a few base knocks, Tommy Edman starting it off in the 4th with a crazy diving play towards the hole in between 1B/2B. Edman would quickly fire it to DeJong at 2B for a force out. Gant would get the final out getting Naquin to fly out to O’Neill.
Pauly Deez and Goldy joined in on the robbing of Suárez with a nifty play in the 6th, ending Gant’s evening with a deep play in the hole and a crazy smooth pick from Goldy over at 1B. He makes it look entirely too easy.
Gant would end his game with 6IP, 3 hits, 0ER, 2bb/5k’s on 80 pitches (52 strikes).
The Cardinals would ignite a little two-out rally in the bottom half of the 6th, getting things started with an O’Neill walk to bring up Knizner. Kiz would drive a ball to LCF off Miley (103.2mph exit velocity, 395 feet), just missing his 1st HR of the season, to drive in Prince Sex to make it 2-0.
Génesis Cabrera and Giovanny Gallegos would work the final 3 innings, Cabrera getting the nod in the 7th.
Cabrera would look good as we’ve seen from him of late, mowing down Naquin with a 97mph sinker for the first out. India and Barnhart would follow up with ground outs of their own, ending an easy 1-2-3 inning on 17 pitches. Back-to-back games for Cabrera, a clean outing in each.
Gio would get the final six outs of the game, coming in and immediately hitting the first batter he faced in Kyle Farmer. That wouldn’t matter, as Gio was able to get the next six Reds he faced, needing only 23 pitches to record the two inning save, his 1st save of the season to secure a 2-0 victory. With the win, the Reds would move into last place in the division, and boy, isn’t that awesome?
Not to go unnoticed, Carlson would quietly work a (3-4) game, could’ve easily been (4-4) if it wasn’t for India robbing him in the 5th. Carlson would collect three singles (2 from the right side and 1 from the left. You could say he probably should’ve been at the top of the order all season, glad he’s finally worked his way in there the last two games. I have a feeling it may stick.
Jack Flaherty (3-0, 3.80) takes the ball tomorrow in search of the series sweep, facing off with Luis Castillo (1-1, 6.05). First pitch from Busch Stadium is scheduled for 1:15pm c/t.
Cheers, Stew
Shout out to Kelli for the photo used as the background picture for the scorecard coverphoto!
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