Game Summary
Kyle Leahy battled spotty command in the early going. He ends up working through to a quality start with 6 IP, 3 runs allowed with 7 strikeouts. But the Cardinal offense musters but a single run on a ground, losing multiple runners on the bases in a game where there weren’t a lot of base runners. The Cardinals were outhit 14-6 on the day.
Pre-game notes
- Here we are again on a Wednesday. A day game. Getaway day. You probably don’t want to hear their record on such days.
- The Cardinals go for a home sweep over the San Diego Padres. Perhaps you would not like to hear their record on “sweep day”.
- It is also their fourth crack at vaulting to the mark of ten games over .500. You definitely don’t want to hear their record on days when they are 9 games over .500.
- So, with the odds stacked against them, Kyle Leahy toes the rubber and leads the team to battle against…TBA? Turns out to be Bradley Rodriguez as the opener. I expect him to be followed by Griffin Canning, who if I recall mesmerized in San Diego twice through the line-up and then blew up the third time through. That was a different line-up, though.
- Speaking of line-ups, today will be a typical L-R-L lineup.
- For those that track such things, Fangraphs now projects the Cardinals to win 84 games, which would be the result of a projection that has them playing slightly less than .500 baseball the rest of the way.
- Marinaccio is unavailable today. He pitched last night and takes his suspension day. Without him and Miller, the Padres bullpen seems short.
The first innings
The Padres came out swinging against Leahy. A fine stop by Blaze saved a bigger inning, but a Leahy walk complicated the inning and ultimately scored on a SacFly following an advancing single. I hate walks! Leahy navigates the first three innings, working around 3 hits and a walk, with a lot of hanging pitches that a poor offense could do little with. He did accumulate 4 K’s in the early going.
In the Cardinals’ first, Herrera nearly decapitated the pitcher with a hit, then made two base running mistakes to remove the advantage. The first mistake was he started and stopped when trying to steal second, but got away with it when the C threw the ball into CF. Herrera was unable to advance (never make the third out at third base is a good rule of thumb). But, then he promptly ran into the 3rd out at third when Walker hit a nubber to the third baseman, who had to do nothing other than tag the incoming Herrera.
Griffin Canning indeed replaced Rodriguez in the second, and he mesmerized again. Through four innings, the Cardinals mustered 3 singles and a walk, none in the same inning.
The middle innings
More hits and more hanging pitches combined to add to the Padres score in the fourth inning. A double play builds Leady a pathway out of the inning, though. A single on a 0-2 count and a misplay by Church in CF scores a third Padre run in the fifth. It was scored a double, but it was a poor read and route taken.
Blaze Jordan gets his first MLB walk as he leads off the fifth. Church follows that with a single. Wetherholt advances them with an infield out. The Cardinals lose a runner at the plate on Herrera’s infield out. Burleson gets a nice 2-out RBI single, extending his hitting streak to 17 games. After five innings the score is 3-1 Padres.
Leahy ends up with a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth. Overall, he battles through six innings, giving up 7 hits, 1 walk and 3 runs. He recorded 7 K’s as well. 81 pitches. His command appeared to improve as he got deeper into the game.
In the sixth, Winn walks and gets picked off. Been difficult to get any offensive continuity today.
The decisive and bitter end
Svanson effectively pitches the seventh and 1 out into the eighth. Bruihl then comes in for the left-right matchups. Sure enough, he gets the RH hitter and loses the LH hitters. Hey, wait a minute….
Roycroft comes in for Bruihl. HBP on the first hitter but retires the next of a fly to left to end the 8th inning.
Very little occurred offensively in the later third. An eighth inning HBP on Herrera (again!) is quickly erased by a GIDP.
The Padres tack on runs in the ninth against Roycroft. In a surprising turn of events, Roycroft had an inning spin out of control. A single followed by another single off the wall by Tatis Jr. who was thrown out (by Walker) trying to make it a double but still garners the RBI, followed by another single and a long home run by Merrill. Then a walk. Roycroft was out on an island with no one warming. Then another walk. Then came an error on a routine grounder by Winn to continue the misery. A strikeout to the ninth batter of the inning brings a merciful end.
Nootbaar leads off the ninth with a single, but Winn quickly erases him with a GIDP. Pages ends the game with a ground out. Padres win 6-1. Back to 8 games over .500.
Post-Game Notes
- Check out Today on the Farm – Wednesday 6.17 for updates on MiLB action.
- The Cardinals head to Kansas City for that crucial cross-state, inter-league rivalry match-up with the Royals. Games are Thursday, Friday and Sunday with an odd Saturday off to accommodate a soccer game.
- It’s funny how a bullpen can go from over-used to well-rested and rusty in such a short span, huh? And back again…
- Have you noticed the trend of openers against the Cardinals? That seems to me to be a league-wide recognition of the top 3-4 hitters in the line-up. Teams find value in trying to neutralize them the first time through that line-up. Seems like the investment is a scripted one inning appearance with the chosen matchups and payoff is you give the starter a shot to go two times through the line-up and get deep enough into the game to avoid the chase/bridge guys and go straight to the leverage/closer guys.
- I think we need an update on Blaze Jordan’s defensive prowess at third base. He has been better than advertised.
