Cards hammer Thor, take series from Mets with 6-4 win
Dakota Hudson vs Noah Syndergaard, what could possibly go wrong? Apparently not a thing because baseball. You’ll find me saying that a ton throughout the season, today was one of those days.
Today didn’t get off to the start Hud would have hoped, as a quick strikeout to Nimmo was quickly erased by a bomb of a shot to Pete Alonso, a hanging breaker to Alonso who crushed it to put the Mets up 1-0 early. A batter later, Canó would ground a ball over to Goldy, who would throw it over to Hudson covering 1B, who proceeded to drop it for a fielding error, asking for trouble. Conforto then flew out to Swags and Rosario singled to center to bring in McNeil with runners on. Hud would pick up his second k, getting McNeil swinging at a four-seamer.
Thor did Thor in the bottom of the 1st, striking out the side, working around a two out Pauly Deez single.
Hud settled in for his second inning of work quite well, retiring the side in order, striking out d’Arnuad and Syndergaard to take things to the bottom half.
The Cards bats jumped on Thor in the bottom half of the inning, plating three runs to take the lead. Cafecíto and Yadi reached base to open the inning, Café via a walk and Yadi with a single up the middle. After Thor got Dex on a changeup for his 4th k of the afternoon, KoWo would take a pitch the opposite way to LF for an rbi single to tie things up at 1-1.
Hud would chop a grounder to Rosario next, forcing an error from the Mets SS to load the bases for the Leadoff Guy. Carp would fly out to shallow CF to bring in Goldy, and guess what? Goldy cashed in, ripping a two run single up the middle, past a diving and outstretched glove of Rosario, scoring Yadi and KoWo to make it 3-1 Cards.
Hud would work around a bases loaded jam in the top of the 3rd, not helping himself out by any means if I’m being honest. KoWo made a smooth play on Nimmo to take away a single to begin the inning. Alonso would walk to bring in Canó, who would single to CF to bring up Conforto, who also walked, to load the bases with only one out. Rosario was up next and he would ground a ball back to Hudson on the mound, who would come home to Yadi for the force out, throwing a wild ball back to Yadi, taking away any chance for a double play. Luckily Hud was able to strand the bases loaded, getting McNeil to fly out to Cafecíto to end the threat.
The Cardinals would plate two more runs vs Thor in the bottom of the 3rd. Swags opened the inning with a walk (wtf?), his 4th walk in two games. Café kept the line moving, dropping in a shallow single into RCF, bringing up Yadi. Yadi would tap a slow rbi grounder to McNeil at 3B, driving in Swags to make it 4-1. Swags looked AMAZING this trip around the bases by the way. He would go 1st to 3rd on Café’s bloop single, and this wasn’t an easy 1st to 3rd fwiw. Dex kept heating up offensively, dropping an rbi double into the RF corner to plate Cafecíto to make it 5-1 Cards.
The Mets would connect with their second solo HR of the game in the 4th, getting a run back on the board with a two out solo shot from their starting pitcher, Noah Syndergaard. Thor would send a shot to LCF, sending Dex back to the warning track, leaping up, having the ball bounce out of his glove and over the wall to make it a 5-2 game. Hud picked up his fifth and final strikeout of his afternoon on Nimmo to end the inning, getting him swinging on a curveball.
The Cards added another insurance run in the bottom half of the inning, as Goldy reached with a one out infield single. After DeJong flew out to Conforto, Swags would keep up with the xbh’s, ripping an rbi double into the LCF gap, scoring Goldy to make it 6-2 Cards.
Hud worked his final inning in the 5th, giving up a one out solo shot, the third solo shot he’d give up on the day, as Canó ripped a HR to LCF to cut the lead in half at 6-3.
The Cardinals bats would go silent starting in the bottom of the 5th inning. Thor would work a final, 1-2-3 inning and Gsellman would work a scoreless/hitless three inning appearance out of the pen.
The Cards bullpen would work a solid 4 innings for the win today, as Brebbia struck out the only two he would face before Andrew Miller would relieve him with two down in the 6th. Miller would walk the pinch-hitter, Dominic Smith, to fit things to the top of the order. With Nimmo due up, Callaway would pinch-hit again with Davis, and Davis would pop out to KoWo to end the inning.
Miller started things out in the 7th inning, striking out the first two batters he faced. Alonso would whiff at a four-seamer from Miller and Canó would end up getting driller on the hand from a pitch, that apparently he swung at? Hahahaha. Anyway, Canó had to leave the game with two strikes and Lagares would finish the at bat, striking out on a slider from Miller. Conforto made things a little more interesting, cranking the fourth solo HR of the game for the Mets, sending one to RCF.
Johnny G-Spot would get the final out of the 7th, getting help from Lane Thomas (who took over for Dex in CF in the 6th), who came in to make a sliding catch in shallow CF to take away a hit from Rosario. Gant retired the side in the 8th, getting McNeil to fly out to Swags, Broxton striking out swinging on a two-seamer, and d’Arnaud would fly out to Cafecíto to end the inning.
Jordan Hicks would come in throwing 104mph darts for his 5th save of the 2019 season, striking out two in the 9th. Wilson Ramos would pinch-hit for Gsellman, striking out looking at a 102mph sinker at the knees. Davis then grounded out to Wong for the second out. Pete Alonso kept doing Pete Alonso things, keeping the Mets alive with a bloop single into CF, bringing up Lagares, who was in Canó’s spot after the injury. Lagares would go down looking at a 104mph sinker to end the game for a 6-4 Cardinals victory.
With the win, the Cardinals (12-9) will begin a three-game set at home vs the Brewers (13-10). Jack Flaherty (1-1, 5.00) will get the nod in game one vs Adrian Houser. Houser is making his season debut, working in 7 games last season to the tune of a 3.29 era in 13.2IP. First pitch at 6:45pm c/t.
Cheers, Stew
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