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Writer's pictureStew Stiles

Game 23 - Philadelphia Phillies @ St. Louis Cardinals



Carlos Martínez vs Zach Eflin round two; Carlos in search of his first win as a SP since July of 2018, one week before Mike Shildt would take over as interim manager. And would Carlos show out tonight!


Both pitchers would open things up with a one-run 1st, Carlos getting his evening started with a strikeout to Brad Miller on his best changeup of the season, diving low and away. Hoskins would work the first of two walks issued by Martínez next, and Harper would cash in by hitting a ball back up the middle. The ball would sneak under/tip the glove of an outstretched DeJong, and go to Carlson in CF to give Harper a 2B, allowing Hoskins to move up to 3B.

Realmuto would come through with a sac-fly to Carlson in CF, scoring Hoskins to give the Phillies an early 1-0 lead. Martínez would end his 1st on the 13th pitch, getting Didi Gregorius to pop out to Edman.


With Edman retired on a grounder to Hoskins, Dylan Carlson would make sure to give the Cardinals a chance to answer back quickly. Carlson would slap a single the opposite way into LF to greet the starter, Zach Eflin.

Eflin would pick up his first of eight k’s on the night, getting Goldy to lock up on a slider looking at 87mph.

Nolan Arenado, needing a hit more than pretty much anybody, would line an RBI double into LF. The ball sneaking past a diving Brad Miller to score Carlson to tie things up 1-1.


Carlos hurried his offense back into the dugout on 12 pitches in his half of the 2nd, striking out his second batter of the game to end the inning. Carlos would get Bohm to fly out to Carlson, Herrera to line out on a flashy out by Arenado at 3B, and striking out Maton on an 84mph slide piece.

The Cardinals would do what they do best in their part of the 2nd, getting a couple of two outs runs home. After an O’Neill fly out, Williams and Kiz would pick up back-to-back singles to RF, bringing up Tsunami. Carlos would become Eflin’s second strikeout victim, going down on an 87mph slider.

This is where Tommy and that third leg of his came in to play, as Edman would rip a two-run double into the RF corner- 103.9mph exit velocity to make it 3-1 Cardinals.

Carlos would enter beast mode his final 5.1IP, allowing just one more base hit to Brad Miller with one out in the top of the 3rd. That single would get erased by back-to-back web gems from the Cardinals infield. The first coming on a 6-4 fielder’s choice, as Edman would save a throwing error on DeJong by stretching out for the out at 2B. Next, Harper would pop out to Arenado (who was at SS area due to the shift), who would race it down about ~93 feet in foul ground for the final out.

Eflin would go into shutdown mode on his own, allowing just an Arenado double (second of the game) in the 3rd inning with one out.


The Phillies cut into the lead with some help from the Cardinals defense in the top of the 4th. JT Realmuto led the inning off with a fly ball to Justin Williams in RF, who completely misplayed/misjudged it and Realmuto would find himself on 2B. With Gregorius up, Martínez would fire a pick-off attempt into CF, allowing Realmuto to move up to 3B. Gregorius then cashed in by grounding a ball to Edman at 2B, driving in his 13th run of the season to make it 3-2.


Carlos’ next three innings would be 7, 10, and 15 pitches- retiring all 9 that he faced, adding his 3rd strikeout by getting Harper on high cheese at 95mph.


The bats would add a couple more two out runs (go figure) in the bottom of the 7th. After Eflin mowed thru Kiz and Tsunami, Edman and Carl Bean would rope back-to-back singles. This would force Girardi to go to his pen, brining in STL native, Sam Coonrod.

Goldy would greet Coonrod with a two-run double into RF to score Edman and Carlson to make it 5-2 Cards, his 12th & 13th rbi on the year.

Carlos would end his night with a line of: 7.1IP, 2 hits, 2R/1ER, 2BB/4K’s


The bullpen (Gio for 0.2IP & Reyes for 1IP) would finish things off for tonight’s 5-2 victory. Gio would work a 3-pitch double play to Miller to end the top of the 8th and Reyes would toss a 22-pitch 9th, getting Hoskins (first out) and Gregorius (third out) to strikeout to pick up his 6th save of the season.

With the 5-2 win, the Cardinals improve their record to (12-11), 2 games behind the 1st place Brewers.


Johan Oviedo (0-0, 0.00) gets the ball in game number three tomorrow evening, matching up with righty, Vince Velasquez (0-0, 6.75). First pitch from Busch scheduled for 6:45pm c/t.


Cheers, Stew

Shout out to Lauren Bundy for the pic that was used for the cover photo tonight!


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