Austin Gomber and the Rockies would come into town for a three-game weekend set, getting their first *live* look at Nolan Arenado in Cardinal red.
Gomber would matchup with Captain Jack, and Nolan would get the chance to not only face his own squad, but get to play against his cousin, Josh Fuentes.
Quite the storylines in the works this evening. Anyway, let’s get to business, there’s really not a whole lot to cover here besides an excellent game all the way around from the Cards.
Flaherty would give up all his three hits tonight with two outs in the 1st inning, as McMahon singled, Blackmon singled, and Hampson hit an infield single, back-to-back-to-back. The only problem is, Blackmon would round second base on the grounder to DeJong right in front of him, and Deez would make a quick heads up play by firing to Edman coming in behind Blackmon to cover 2B for the out to escape any damage.
After that, it was nothing but smooth sailing for Captain Jack, who would retire 18 of the final 19 batters he’d face, adding five more strikeouts to the one he recorded in the 1st on Story.
Prince Sex would give Flaherty some solid defense to end the 2nd inning, taking away a sure hit off the bat of Nuñez, diving towards the line to take the hit away. He just makes it look so easy out there.
Gomber started his evening off sharp, really working in that sweet knuckle curve he possesses. Big G would strikeout Edman and Carlson to begin his night, before getting Goldy to pop out to Story.
The Cardinals would do more of that two out scoring they’ve been accustomed to this season in the bottom of the 2nd. Arenado led the frame off with a ground rule double into the RF corner, and Gomber followed that up by getting his 3rd and 4th k’s, getting DeJong and O’Neill to bring up Bader.
Haaaaaaaarrrrrry would do the damn thing (thank you for the trifecta, Harry!!), staying hit against breaking pitches to begin his season, sending a 2-run HR to LCF to put the Cards on the board, 2-0.
Captain Jack would join in on giving himself some run support to lead off the bottom of the 3rd, sending an absolute missile to LF for his 1st career HR (106mph exit velocity, 416 feet). I have a feeling Gomber won’t hear the end of this one for the rest of time.
The Cardinals would add two more insurance runs in the bottom of the 5th, cashing in on three singles. Kiz started things off with a weird fought off single over Adams head at 1B. After a Flaherty bunt pop out (let him swing, he’s a slugger), Edman and Carl Bean (rbi, scoring Kiz) would rip back-to-back singles to make it 4-0. A Goldy ground out, 5-4 on the putout, would make it 5-0, scoring Edman.
Helsley and Cabrera would toss the final two innings tonight, working scoreless frames. Helsley would hit triple digits with his heater five times in his outing, and Cabrera would strikeout the final two Rockies of the game, getting McMahon (looking 97mph FB) and Blackmon (looking 98mph FB) to end the game.
Nice little fun fact, the Cardinals are now (14-0) when Tommy and his third leg score a run this season.
Carlson Martínez (2-4, 3.72) looks to keep his string of three consecutive strong starts going tomorrow afternoon, as he will take on Chi Chi González (1-0, 4.38). First pitch from Busch Stadium is scheduled for 1:15pm c/t.
Cheers, Stew
Shout out to Quinn for the picture from the game tonight that was used as the image for the cover photo!