Michael McGreevy gave the St. Louis Cardinals a quality start, but he was not quite up to the level that Jacob deGrom was as the Rangers managed to eek out a 2-1 win against the Cardinals Monday night at Busch Stadium.
Jacob deGrom looked like a pitcher who has won the Cy Young Award twice. He gave the Texas Rangers 5 full innings allowing just 4 hits with 1 walk and 8 strikeouts. The Cardinals had some opportunities against him, but were unable to put any runs on the board during his 5 inning stint. Michael McGreevy also had an impressive night. He tossed 6 full innings allowing 5 hits and 2 earned runs with just 1 strikeout while giving Texas 2 walks.
Texas would get their runs in the 4th and 5th innings against McGreevy. In the top of the 4th inning, Brandon Nimmo delivered a one-out single. That was followed by a double by Ezequiel Duran which scored Nimmo from first giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead. In the top of the 5th, McGreevy walked Jansen which would come back to haunt him. Jansen stole second and then advanced to third when Lopez singled. Joc Pederson would come through with a single up the middle scoring Jansen doubling the Texas lead to 2-0.
With deGrom out of the game in the bottom of the 6th inning, the Cardinals bats would come alive (somewhat) when Masyn Winn turned on an 85 mph changeup and deposited it into the left field seats cutting the Rangers lead in half making it 2-1 Texas.
Justin Bruihl gave St. Louis 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief until he gave up a single to Lopez in the top of the 8th inning and then he advanced to second when Joc Pederson hit into a fielder’s choice. Ryne Stanek was brought in to keep the Rangers from adding to their lead. He got Josh Jung out on a good lateral play by Masyn Winn who covered a lot of ground to his left and then threw out Jung. Stanek then hit Nimmo giving Texas a first and third scoring opportunity bringing up Jake Burger. Ryne was fortunately able to get Burger to go fishing for a diving slider to end the Rangers 8th inning.
George Soriano was the Cardinals answer for the top of the 9th inning. Duran started the inning with an infield single that Nolan Gorman made worse with a throwing error that gave Duran second base. Osuna then followed with his own infield single making it first and third with no one out for the Rangers. Soriano came through with a clutch strikeout of Carter and a pop-out by Jansen. George struck out Lopez to keep Texas close at 2-1 going into the bottom of the 9th inning.
The St. Louis offense had been quiet after Masyn Winn’s home run in the bottom of the 6th with no baserunners in either the bottom of the 7th or 8th innings. In the bottom of the 9th, the Rangers brought in Jacob Latz. Bryan Torres grounded out to start the Cardinals 9th. Masyn Winn whiffed on a ball nowhere near the strike zone. That brought up Nolan Gorman. He managed to work a full count against Latz before fouling off a couple pitches. Unfortunately, there would be no David Freese bottom of the 9th magic as Gorman struck out on the 8th pitch ending the Cardinals night with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Rangers.
The St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers will tangle again Tuesday night as Dustin May will try to match his excellent last start for the Cardinals while Nathan Eovaldi will take the mound for the Rangers. First pitch is set for 6:45pm central time at Busch Stadium. Game broadcast will be handled by Cardinals.tv.
