Goldy’s 3-run blast caps off Cardinals 6-5 comeback victory
Daniel Ponce de Leon and Chris Archer would go to battle this afternoon in the rubber match of the three-game set. Both would give up a first inning run. After two quick ground outs to start the afternoon, Starling Marte would take Ponce deep to LF for a solo shot, his 16th of the year.
But, no worries. Ya know why? Because a lot of sex is why. And I’m talking PRINCE SEX. What a series the pride of Canada is having. With Tommy Edman on 2B and two outs after a leadoff single, O’Neill would cash in – smacking an rbi single the other way into RF to score Edman to knot it up 1-1.
Chris Archer was trying to sort out some command issues all afternoon, and somehow managed to pitch decent with zero control. Muñoz and Knizner would start the bottom of the 2nd off with back-to-back hits, Knizner’s being the first of his major league career (a double into CF, 108mph exit velocity). Archer would strikeout his counterpart before walking Edman to load the bases for Cafecíto. Café would send a sac-fly to Reynold in RF, scoring Muñoz to give the Cards an early 2-1 lead. Archer would work into more trouble, walking Goldy to load the bases again, this time for Prince Sex. But home plate umpire, Adrian Johnson would bail Archer out, ringing O’Neill up on a high curveball that appeared to be out of the zone.
Ponce would run into his issues in the 4th inning, allowing the first two Pirates he faced to reach base – Cabrera single and Moran walk. Ponce bounced back with a huge double-play ball off the bat of Kang, 6-4-3 on the scoring. With a runner at 3B and two outs, Shildt elected to IBB the eight-hole hitter, Stallings. And this strategy really hasn’t paid off so far this season, as Archer would somehow poke a single into RF, driving in Cabrera to tie the game 2-2. Newman would then single to load the bases up for Reynolds, who also singled into shallow CF. The single would drop in front of Dex and allow two more Pirates runs to come across to give them a 4-2 advantage. Dom Leone would come in from the pen to record the final out, getting Marte to ground out to Muñoz at 3B.
Chasen Shreve would make his season debut in the 5th inning, working a clean 1-2-3 on 11 pitches.
PRINCE SEX delivered the fireworks in the bottom of the inning, crushing a solo HR on a hanging 2-1 slider from Archer, bringing the Cards back to within a run.
Brebbs would work the 6th and 7th innings, retiring all six batters he faced, while striking out four (struck out the side in the 6th). Let’s just say the fastball was working for Brebbs today.
Liriano would come in to pitch the 7th inning for the Pirates. After getting the leadoff hitter Bader to ground out to Osuna, Edman (single) and Cafecíto (walk) would reach base to bring up Goldy. But before Goldy could take his hacks, Hurdle would make another bullpen move, going with Feliz to face Goldy. The move backfired in the worst way imaginable, as Goldy sent a 3-run moon shot to the Pirates pen to regain the lead 6-4.
Miller worked a perfect 8th inning; striking out Osuna, Cabrera fly out to CF, and Moran grounding out to 1B.
Tsunami would come in the game in the 9th, looking for his 6th save of the season. And it wasn’t easy. After getting Frazier and Dickerson for a quick two outs, Newman would single into LF and Bell would move up to 2B on the play. Reynolds then kept swinging that hot bat of his, lining an rbi single into RF to cut the Cardinals advantage to 6-5. With Starling Marte at the dish, he’d send a deep foul ball down the RF line that Dex would dive into the stands and give an all out team effort, trying to secure the series win. Unfortunately, he didn’t hang on to it, but at least he didn’t injure himself in the process. Marte would then ground out to Deez to end the game for a 6-5 Cardinals winner.
The Cardinals (48-46) head out on a #happyflight to Cincinnati to take on the Reds (43-50) their first trip to Cincy in 2019. Dakota Hudson (8-4, 3.48) gets the ball in game one, matching up with Tanner Roark (5-6, 3.99). Get ready for a bunch of awful Skyline Chili jokes from everyone in the broadcast booth. First pitch tomorrow night is 6:10pm c/t.
Cheers, Stew