The St. Louis Cardinals began rivalry weekend welcoming the Kansas City Royals to town and Jordan Walker was on the welcoming committee hitting his 13th home run leading St. Louis to a game 1 win in the I-70 series, but it would take more than 9 innings to do it.
The first three innings of the game were a pitchers duel of sorts with both Dustin May and Michael Wacha not allowing a run until the 4th inning. The Royals struck first, but they received some assists from Dustin May as he walked Pasquantino. Salvador Perez followed that with a single before Carter Jensen doubled scoring Pasquantino giving Kansas City a 1-0 lead. May then walked Jac Caglianone. Collins sacrifice fly scored Perez doubling the Royals lead to 2-0.
The St. Louis Cardinals would immediately even the game in the bottom of the 4th inning after it was ruled that Ivan Herrera was hit by a pitch even though replay showed the ball glanced off the catcher’s glove and not his helmet. The Royals did not challenge which was a 2-run mistake because of what Jordan Walker would do with an 0-2 pitch from Michael Wacha.
Pedro Pagés gave the Cardinals the lead in the bottom of the 5th inning with his solo blast to Freese’s Landing in center field making it 3-2 St. Louis.
Dustin May would start the 6th inning with the lead, but not finish that way as he would again walk Pasquantino to start the inning. May would get Perez to fly out to right, but the Royals would load the bases on singles by Jensen and Caglianone. A Collins ground out to Alec Burleson at first base would score the tying run when Alec’s throw to the plate was too late to get Pasquantino making it 3-3. Dustin May’s final stat line for the night would be 6 innings allowing just 4 hits, but 3 earned runs with 3 strikeouts and 4 walks.
George Soriano and JoJo Romero would pitch around a Bobby Witt Jr. single in the top of the 7th inning keeping the Royals off the board. St. Louis would get off to a flying start in the bottom of the 7th inning as Masyn Winn rifled a double down the left field line. Nathan Church was unsuccessful getting down a bunt to move Winn over to third and then Pagés struck out. Manager Oli Marmol asked Jose Fermin to come off the bench as a pinch hitter with two outs in place of Victor Scott II. He would draw a walk bringing up JJ Wetherholt who was 0-3 up until that point of the game. He would unfortunately softly ground into a force out to end the inning squandering Winn’s leadoff double.
JoJo Romero would also handle the top of the 8th inning with the only wart being a two-out walk to Lane Thomas, but he would not score sending the game into the bottom of the 8th tied 3-3. St. Louis would threaten again in the bottom of the 8th when Herrera and Burleson both singled, but Jordan Walker would hit into bad luck grounding a ball that the Royals third baseman Garcia could grab, step on the base and fire across the diamond for a double play. The Royals then made the curious choice to walk Nolan Gorman bringing up Masyn Winn for a righty-on-righty matchup. Fortunately (for the Royals), that worked out as Winn struck out moving the game into the 9th inning tied.
The Cardinals brought in Riley O’Brien to keep the Royals at bay in the top of the 9th inning. After Massey grounded out to Alec Burleson, Isbel hit a bloop single to center. That brought up the top of the Royals order, but Garcia politely hit into a double play to end the top of the 9th.
Nathan Church led off the bottom of the 9th inning hoping to redeem himself for a missed sacrifice bunt opportunity earlier. He would do that by poking a single into short left-center field. Nathan Church was then gifted a stolen base as Perez throw to second beat him easily, but the ball was dropped during the tag. After Pedro Pagés struck out thanks to a perceptive ABS challenge by Perez. Reliever Strahm gave Jose Fermin nothing to hit walking him on 5 pitches. That brought up JJ Wetherholt. He hit a sac fly to deep left center advancing Church to third base. With Herrera up next, the Royals brought in John Schreiber to try and send the game to extras. Ivan Herrera came within inches of sending the Cardinals home a winner as he hit a screaming line drive to right-center, but Isbel made an incredible catch to save the game.
Ryne Stanek was brought in for the top of the 10th inning. He promptly gave up a double to Bobby Witt Jr. scoring designated runner Garcia giving the Royals a 4-3 lead. It could have been worse as Nathan Church made a great diving stop keeping Witt Jr’s ball from going to the wall. Stanek get Pasquantino to pop out and struck out Perez. The Cardinals chose to eventually intentionally walk Jensen bringing up former Cardinal Lane Thomas who also struck out holding the Royals to just that one run.
The Cardinals hopes in the bottom of the 10th inning would rest in the hands of Alec Burleson, Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman. Designated runner Thomas Saggese would score on the first pitch to Alec Burleson as he immediately ripped a single to right evening the score to 4-4.
Jordan Walker entered the batter’s box with chants of “MVP!” from the crowd. That may eventually prove true, but Jordan unfortunately struck out on a disappearing slider. Nolan Gorman wasted no time crushing a single to right field advancing Burleson to third base with the potential winning run. Masyn Winn struck out for the second out leaving Nathan Church with the hero opportunity. He was only able to muster a weak flyball to right-center ending the 10th inning.
Gordon Graceffo was tasked with top of the 11th inning. He walked Collins on 4 pitches. Massey then gave two examples of how not to bunt before flying out to Fermin in right field, but designated runner Lane Thomas decided not to advance to third. Perhaps he still has some Cardinals tendencies after all. Isbel then grounded out to Alec Burleson, but it wasn’t hit hard enough for a double play, but did give the Cardinals out number two. That brought up Garcia who was hitless in 5 previous at-bats on the night. He would go hitless in the 6th at-bat, too, grounding out to Gorman to end the top of the 11th inning.
The Cardinals had speedster Nathan Church as their designated runner in the bottom of the 11th inning and he was bunted over to third base by Pedro Pagés. Unfortunately, Fermin’s ground out to 2nd base wasn’t enough for Church to score. The Royals chose to intentionally walk JJ Wetherholt which would have brought up Thomas Saggese, but pinch-hit superstar Yohel Pozo was sent to the plate instead. He did what Yohel Pozo often does and walked off the game with a single into right field giving St. Louis a 5-4 victory.
The I-70 series continues Saturday as it’s game 2 of the St. Louis Cardinals playing host for the Kansas City Royals. Kyle Leahy (4-3, 4.31 PCL, 32 SO) will start the Saturday afternoon affair for the Cardinals while Noah Cameron (2-2, 5.55 PCL, 32 SO) will begin the game for the Royals. First pitch is scheduled for 1:15pm at Busch Stadium and the broadcast will be handled by Cardinals.tv.
