Game 60 Recap vs Reds
Uncle Charlie and Hunter Greene would deliver quite the pitchers duel this afternoon, as both pitchers would tally a matching, seven strikeouts.
Waino would begin his afternoon of work with two strikeouts looking- his first on Senzel to leadoff the game on three pitches (sinker painted) and his second on Votto to end the inning on a nasty curve.
Hunter Greene one upped Waino in his half of the 1st, blowing away Edman-Gorman-Goldy all on 98+mph heaters.
Waino would run into his only trouble of the game in the 3rd, surrendering three runs on three hits. Okey opened the inning getting hit by a pitch, Senzel would then fly out to Carlson in foul territory on an incredibly underrated play. That led to Drury and Pham, who both knocked back-to-back doubles to LF, Pham’s driving in Okey and Drury.
After striking out Votto a second time, Kyle Farmer would send his second of four singles into LF to plate Pham and make it a 3-0 Reds lead.
By this time, Hunter Greene was in shutdown mode. The Cardinals only hit in the game until the 6th inning was an Arenado leadoff double in the 2nd.
Tommy Edman opened the 6th with an infield single on a liner back to Greene. Gorman came up next, getting hit by a pitch to put two runners on for Goldy. Goldy would fly out to RF, bringing in Arenado who earned a free pass. During the Nado at bat, newly entered Díaz would throw a wild pitch to advance Edman and Gorman into scoring position. Prince came up with a chance for damage, and he was just short of that, flying out to deep CF, sending Senzel back to the track and the base of the wall. Senzel would make an incredible play on the catch, but Edman would tag and score on the sac-fly to cut the deficit to two.
Waino would retire the final seven Reds he faced, striking out three, inducing two ground outs and two fly outs.
Waino final line in 316th career game with Yadi as a battery mate- 7IP, 8H, 3ER, 1bb/7k, 101 pitches (71 strikes)
The Cardinals would make things interesting vs Strickland in the 8th. Gorman led things off getting hit by his second pitch of the afternoon. Goldy then lined out softly to Farmer, ending his on-base streak at an incredible 46 consecutive games. Arenado and Prince delivered back-to-back knocks next, Nado sending a single to CF, and Prince a 2-run double to LCF to make it a 4-3 game. Kuhnel would come in relief to face Donovan, but Bro would get caught trying to swipe 3B, and Kuhnel would step off to pick him off, a true buzzkill.
But no worries, because the 9th got wild. Carlson would work a seven pitch walk vs Kuhnel, bringing in Yadi, who did the classic Yadi and swung at the first offering, grounding into a 5-4-3 DP.
This is where the most crucial at bat of the game came next, in the form of Juan Yepez. Yepez was inserted into the lineup in the 7th inning, playing RF. Carlson would shift to CF and Bader would be removed for lack of effort, according to Marmol post-game.
Yepez would lace a single into RF, beating a shifted infield to flip things over to Edman at the top.
Sosa would pinch-run for Yepez and immediately force a pickoff to 1B, as Kuhnel would overthrow it and Sosa would move into scoring position on the error.
Edman absolutely let his third leg drag all over the dirt, taking a low slider and sending it 385 feet into the Cards pen for the walkoff, two-run, blast.
What. a. comeback. win.
Dakota Hudson (4-2, 2.76) gets the ball tomorrow, looking for the sweep. He will matchup with the rookie RHP, Graham Ashcraft (3-0, 1.14). First pitch is scheduled for 1:15pm c/t.
Cheers, Stew
Photo used for cover photo: courtesy of @llockness