The St. Louis Cardinals offense was great out of the starting gate early grabbing a quick 4-0 lead and Andre Pallante’s start was just good enough Tuesday night in Sacramento as the Cardinals offense gave them a 6-4 victory.
The Athletics starter Jeffrey Springs threw 26 pitches before recording an out in the first inning as the St. Louis Cardinals got to him early. It started with a JJ Wetherholt walk followed by a single from Ivan Herrera who executed a hit-and-run to perfection giving the Cardinals a first and third scoring threat from the get-go. Jordan Walker followed that with a smart single to left-center giving the Cardinals a fast 1-0 lead.
The Cardinals weren’t done in the first. After Alec Burleson struck out and Winn popped out, Jose Fermin came through with a clutch two-out double to center scoring Walker and Herrera giving St. Louis a 3-0 lead. Yohel Pozo followed his clutch RBI’s with one of his own with a single to score Fermin making it a 4-0 Cardinals score.
Andre Pallante would allow the Athletics back into the game in the bottom of the 2nd inning allowing a two-out rally that was extended by a challenge at first base that went the Athletics way on a single by Hernaiz. McNeil followed that with a single and then Nick Kurtz ripped a hard single up the middle to left-center scoring Hernaiz cutting into the Cardinals lead 4-1. Langeliers came through with a two-out double scoring both McNeil and Kurtz shaving the St. Louis lead to just 1 at 4-3.
The Cardinals extended their lead in the 6th inning when Nolan Gorman singled to right and then JJ Wetherholt did JJ Wetherholt things by jolting a no-doubt home run over the right field wall for his 8th home run of the season making it 6-3 Cardinals! Wetherholt added a single later going 2-4 for the night.
Andre Pallante’s final stat line was a respectable 5 innings giving up 4 hits and 3 earned runs with 4 strikeouts and 3 walks. He was relieved by Ryne Stanek who came in to pitch the bottom of the 6th inning. He walked one, but kept the Athletics scoreless which was the goal. JoJo Romero pitched the bottom of the 7th inning and had no problems with even Nick Kurtz getting the Athletics 1-2-3. George Soriano was the Cardinals 8th inning hall monitor. Unfortunately, he served up a gargantuan 448 foot blast to Nick Langeliers who hit a ball onto the roof of the visitor’s clubhouse in Sacramento cutting the Cardinals lead to 6-4. Even Soriano outs were hard hit as Victor Scott II made a fine play on a deep fly by Soderstrom. Rooker popped out to right and then Cortez ripped a double down the right field line to bring the tying run up to the plate in the form of Zack Gelof who flyed out to deep left center limiting the damage to just 1 Athletic run.
Riley O’Brien was tasked with taking care of the Athletics in the bottom of the 9th inning and trying to not replicate the final game of the San Diego series when he gave up a two-out, two-strike game tying home run. Riley walked the first batter on four pitches bringing the tying run up to the plate. He threw his first strike on his 6th pitch. Fortunately, the 8th pitch was a ground ball to JJ Wetherholt that he and Masyn Winn turned into a double play. Riley O’Brien then locked down the Athletics by retiring Jeff McNeil to give the Cardinals a 6-4 victory.
The St. Louis Cardinals California vacation continues Wednesday night as Matthew Liberatore will start the game for St. Louis. J.T. Ginn will take the mound for the Athletics. First pitch at Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park is scheduled for 8:40pm central time and the game will be televised on Cardinals.tv.
