With Jordan Walker shocking the baseball world by winning the Home Run Derby, safe to say the St. Louis Cardinals have had an eventful week in Philadelphia. The Cardinals presence in the actual All-Star game was underwhelming with one very big exception. More on that later.
The American League did what it seems the American League always does in All-Star games as they jumped out to a lead in the first inning. After Mike Trout struck out, Yordan Álvarez singled up the middle and Shea Langeliers walked. Junior Caminero then grounded out moving both Álvarez and Langeliers up to second and third with two out. Bobby Witt Jr. drew a walk to load the bases. Back-to-back singles by Cory Bellinger and Ben Rice gave the AL a quick 3-0 lead.
The first St. Louis Cardinal to enter the All-Star game was Riley O’Brien and to say he had an eventful top of the 3rd inning would be an understatement. After giving up a leadoff single to Shea Langeliers, Riley lost control of a 97 mph sinker which plastered Junior Caminero in the left hand fingers causing him to collapse to the ground in pain. The good news is the x-rays taken at the park came back negative for broken bones according to the TV broadcast.
Leave it to Riley to create a crisis and then pitch his way out of it. He got Bobby Witt Jr. to ground out to third for what looked like a double play, but was denied on a challenge. O’Brien got Cody Bellinger to fly out to left and then struck out Ben Rice to end the top of the 3rd inning with no runs scored. Drama, but no runs has been the story of many St. Louis Cardinals bullpen moments in the first half of the season, so including it in an All-Star game appearance makes sense.
Brief Editorial Rant: I am a lifelong diehard baseball fan, but I was honestly bored to death for the first 7 innings of this All-Star game. There were no extra base hits until the top of the 8th inning. That streak was interrupted by Miguel Vargas who launched a 88 mph slider into one of the upper decks of Citizens Bank Park to make it 4-0 American League. Combine that dearth of offense with awkward pauses in the game for MLB skits and you get a recipe for a substandard All-Star game. Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
I also sat impatiently waiting for Cardinals not named Riley O’Brien to enter the All-Star game. I know it must be a challenge for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to work all the players into the game, but how did Jordan Walker not make a more prominent appearance after his stunning Home Run Derby appearance? Iván Herrera finally was given an at-bat in the bottom of the 8th inning with PCA on first base. He grounded into an inning-ending force out at 2nd.
Jordan Walker FINALLY entered the All-Star game in the bottom of the 9th inning. He was first up to face Aroldis Chapman. Chapman didn’t seem to want to throw Jordan a fastball as he threw 2 splitters and 2 sinkers to strike Walker out with only 1 four-seam fastball in the mix.
For the night, the National League only managed three miserable hits (all singles). The American League notched 7 hits and 4 runs including the 1 exciting home run, but even that seemed dull overall. Oh, PCA did say that he likes the turf in Busch Stadium during his in-game interview with the Fox broadcasters, so that was news. Can it be Friday any faster so we can resume the real entertaining baseball season again?
