
Dakota Hudson vs a Rangers lineup that consisted of 8 left handed batters, what could possibly go wrong? I know I am not the only one that had that mentality coming into tonight’s game.
I gotta say, Hud really shut me up tonight, throwing his second consecutive QS.
Opposing Hud was another opener, this time being Ariel Jurado. Jurado lasted longer than anyone anticipated, or at least I assume that, tossing 4.1 innings before turning things over to the pen.
Both starters worked around two base hits a piece in the first two innings, Jurado stranding two Cards runner and Hud stranding three Rangers.
Both pitchers even traded a pair of strikeouts thru the first two frames to take us to the 3rd.
Harry Bader picked up where he left off last night (3-4), blooping a little base hit into shallow RF to leadoff the 3rd.
After Carp was retired on a nice play from Mazara in RF, Goldy would reach base on a FC E3 from Guzman on a grounder. Guzman would try and get Bader, sending a throw that took Odor off the bag, making sure both runners were safe.
With Deez up to bat, Kiner-Falefa would let up a passed ball to advance both Bader and Goldy into scoring position. Deez would bring home Bader with an rbi ground out to Santana at SS for a 1-0 Cards lead.
Jurado would strikeout Swags on a slider to end the threat.
Hudson worked efficiently thru the 3rd and 4th innings, needing only 13 pitches to get thru the 3rd, adding a couple more k’s to his line.
Hud fired some good sliders to Choo and Mazara to get them both swinging.
Hud even delivered a quicker inning in the 4th, tossing only 11 pitches, working around a leadoff single from Gallo.
After getting Cabrera and Odor to fly out, Hud picked up his fifth strikeout of the game, getting Santana looking at a high sinker.
The Cards exploded with a 5 run 5th inning to give themselves some nice breathing room. After Wong flew out to LF, the next six men reached base.
Bader with an infield single, Carp with a (what looked to be an oppo HR) double off the top of the wall, Goldy with a walk, *insert new pitcher Gómez*, Deez with a two run double to LF, Swags with a walk, and Café with an rbi single to RF to make it 5-0.
Yadi would drive in Swags on a ground out to Odor to push the lead to 6-0.
The Rangers got their only mojo working vs Hud in the bottom of the 5th, getting back to back knocks from Guzman and Kiner-Falefa, Kiner-Falefa ripping an rbi double to LF to score Guzman. Choo and Calhoun would ground out next, Calhoun being able to drive in Kiner-Falefa to make it 6-2.
KoWo flashed the leather all night, and he did to end the 5th, getting a ball smoked to him from Gallo to record the out.
Swags plated an insurance run in the 6th vs a newly entered reliever, Dowdy. Dowdy would walk Goldy and Deez upon entering, then serve up the rbi single up the box from Swags to make it 7-2.
G-Spot would throw two scoreless innings from the pen, what’s new? But, man, what a play and scare he had to leadoff the bottom of the 8th.
Mazara would scorch a liner back to Gant at 100mph exit velocity, going straight off his right pec. But Gant was able to stay with and recover quickly to throw out Mazara at 1B.
Deez added one last insurance run to leadoff the top of the 9th vs Springs, taking the lefty deep to LF for his 8th HR of the year. Willie Calhoun didn’t even know where the ball went, playing all of us and Danny Mac on the play.
Tsunami would make his 2019 debut in the bottom of the 9th, touching 98mph on the gun with his first offering to Odor. Carlos flashed some filthy offerings to Odor, throwing him a slider before eventually getting him with a perfect change down in the zone.
With the rain picking up, Carlos would lose grip of a pitch and hit Santana with a fastball on the ankle, taking him out of the game with a pinch-runner, Forsythe.
After the slight injury delay, Tsunami would induce a game ending double play ball on Guzman, getting him to bounce out with a 4-6-3 DP.
A fun note, Yadi passed Rogers Hornsby tonight in all time doubles in Cardinals franchise history, knocking his 368th career double in the 9th inning, putting him at 5th all time on the Cards list.
Captain Jack (4-3, 4.34) looks to give the Cardinals their first series win in four series tomorrow afternoon, matching up against the left-handed Drew Smyly* (0-3, 6.85). First pitch happens to be at the same time as puck drop of game 5 of the WCF, 2:05pm c/t. So LGB and let’s go Captain Jack.
Cheers, Stew
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