After a day off on Monday, the Cardinals set up for inter-league play. With a two-game set at Cleveland and 3 games at home vs. Minnesota. With a month of sub .500 competition, Can the birds put on a run and make a charge? If so, they need to take advantage of what they have in front of them.
Game 1 July 27, @ Cleveland Cardinals 4 - Indians 2
Adam Wainwright is on the mound in Cleveland doing what Adam Wainwright does. It has become almost automatic that we see good pitching from Adam that what he has does get past us.
For the 10th time in 20 starts, Adam goes 7 innings or more en route to his 8th victory. It seems like a mail-in stat line for Waino 7 IP, 4 H, 2R, 2BB, 8 SO. It was also the first game Adam has pitched in progressive field.
Giovanny Gallegos and Alex Reyes came in to handle the 8th and 9th innings. With Reyes notching his 24th save.
The Cardinal bats, while not booming, were productive enough to outscore the Indians.
Have a day, Harrison Bader! He would go 3-4 with a home run, a double, an RBI, and a stolen base. Hitting safely in 8 out of his last 10 ball games ticked his average to just over.301. The home run was his 9th of the season, and his double was his 25th
Paul DeJong would add a two-run Home run to give the birds a lead in the 7th that they would not let loose of. Carlson walked in the 9th with the bases loaded to bring home Bader with the insurance run.
The win starts the Cards week at 1-0 and 51-50 overall.
Bader - 6 multi-hit games in his last 8 going back to July 19 v.s the Cubs.
Reyes- NO.3 in saves in the MLB, 1 behind Liam Hendricks, and 8 behind Mark Melancon
Game 2 July 28 @ Cleveland, Indians 7 - Cardinals 2
Kwang Hyun Kim lost his scoreless innings streak ended July 2, and his winning streak was snapped on Wednesday. In what you could lately call an uncharacteristic choking move. KK was only able to go 2 and 2/3 innings.
He gave up 5 runs on 5 hits, 1 walk, and NO strikeouts.
Justin Miller allowed two runs on two hits in 1 1/3 IP, no walks, no Strikeouts.
John Gant 1IP, 0H, 0R, 2BB 0SO
Luis Garcia 2IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 1SO
Andrew Miller 1IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 2SO
they were able to put a tourniquet on the bleeding and hold Cleveland at bay.
It was by far Garcia's best outing since coming to St Louis.
The offense was spotty outside of Dylan Carlson's home run and Yadier Molina's two hits. They struck out 14 times v.s Cleveland pitching.
The Cardinals struck first blood when Molina drove in a run in the first with a single. The assault on Kim started in the second inning when Franmil Reyes hit a solo home run.
The Cardinals countered in the third with a solo home run from Carlson. It got worse for Kim in the third, when after 1 out, Cesar Hernandez hit a two-run homer—followed by a back-to-back two-out solo shot by Jose Ramirez and Reyes. In the fourth, Austin Hedges drove in a run with a single, and Hernandez added an RBI sac fly to give the Indians their seventh run. Neither team would mount any threat after the 4th inning. The loss makes the birds 1-1 for the week and 51-51 overall.
Andrew Miller- has only given up 2 runs in his last 8 innings.
Game 3 vs. Minnesota July 30, Cardinals 5 - Twins 2
Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado each had two hits Tommy Edman drove in three runs. Wade LeBlanc turned in 5 2/3 solid innings to put the Cardinals in the win column.
LeBlanc went 5 1/3 innings,s scattered 6 hits,s walked two, and gave up one run. The Bullpen stepped up and shut the door.
Ryan Helsley pitched 1 1/3 innings. He gave up two hits, struck out two, and earned the win.
Giovanny Gallegos and Alex Reyes each threw a scoreless inning to preserve the victory.
The offense was steady in the middle innings, thanks to some timely hitting.
The Twins jumped out in the second inning. On a single by Andrelton Simmons to grab the early lead 1-0, Harrison Bader would drive home a run on a sac fly to tie the game in the fourth. In the sixth, Edman would put the Cards up for good with abases clearing double. In the seventh, Arenado would add an insurance run. The win puts the Cards at 2-1 for the week and 52-51 overall.
Edman - His 9the multi-RBI game.
Goldschmidt - Recorded his 1,500th hit. And his 23rd multi-hit game.
Arenado - His 28th multi-hit game
Helsley - His 6th victory of the year and his second consecutive win.
Game 4 July 31, vs. Minnesota, Twins 8 - Cardinals 1
Jake Woodford's second start is one he would like to forget. The24-year-old has knocked around and had to exit after only 3 innings. The St. Louis Offense could not seem to counter, only pushing 1 run across.
Woodford's line was 3IP, 7H, 7R, 5ER, 1BB, 3SO. TJ McFarland gave up a run in an inning and two-thirds on 3 hits and 2 walks.
Andrew Miller, Luis Garcia, and Justin Miller would stop the Twins over four and one-third innings. The Cardinal offense, however, could get untracked, managing only one run.
Woodford's trouble started in the first when after one out, a double and a rare Arenado fielding Error set the stage for an RBI sac fly by Luis Arraez and a Miguel Sano doubled.
After back-to-back singles, Arraez would double driving home 1 run in the third, and then a walk loaded the bases. Trevor Larnach drove home a run with a sac fly. Ryan Jeffers blasted a three-run shot to cap off the scoring for the inning and give the Twins a 7-0 lead.
Harrison Bader would drive home the lone St. Louis run.
The Twins would add a run in the fifth when Willians Astudillo reaches on an infield single.
The loss even's the record at 2-2 for the week and 52-52 overall.
The day's highlight for St. Louis and its fans was unveiling the newest statue on 8th and Clark.
Ted Simmons was one of my favorite players growing up. I remember being so PISSED when he was traded to Milwaukee.
He will enter the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, on Sept 8th. It is a well-deserved honor for Simba!
Game 5 August 1st vs. Minnesota Cardinals 7 - Twins 3
What seems to have become the norm, Adam Wainwright took the hill, pitched 7 innings, and won the Cardinals. The Birds had the bats rolling with 12 hits, with Dylan Carlson and Edmundo Sosa accounting for 6 of them.
At his best, Wainwright was Old Uncle Charlie going 7IP, 6H, 3R, 1BB, 5SO.
Giovanny Gallegos pitched the 8th, and Alex Reyes finished up the ninth.
Carlson went 3-4 with an RBI, Sosa went 3-3 with 2 RBIs. Paul Goldschmidt knocked in a pair of runs. Tommy Edman would have two hits and score twice as St. Louis put together a steady and balanced attack, scoring in 5 of their 8 innings at the dish.
The Twins would score first on a two-run single by Andrelton Simmons in the second inning. The Redbirds would come back in the third with Carlson RBI double and a Goldschmidt RBI single.
They would score again in the fourth on a throwing error by Louis Arraez to give the Cardinals the lead.
In the fifth, Tyler O'Neill would steal home to add to the lead.
In the sixth, Jorge Polanco would homer to right to cut the lead to one.
In the eighth, Sosa would lead off with a home run. Later in the inning, Goldschmidt would drive in a run with a sac fly to make the score 7-3.
The win ended the week at 3-2 and a 53-52 overall record.
Wainwright - It was the 3rd game in a row that he went 7 innings or more and the 12th time this season out of 21 stars.
Yadier Molina would hit numbers 1074 and 1075 to move into fourth place over Albert Pujols(1073) on the St. Louis Cardinal all-time hit list.
Next up
Tuesday, August 3 John Lester 3-5 v.s Max fried 7-7
Wednesday, August 4 J.A. Happ 0-0 v.s Drew Smyly 7-3
Thursday, August 5 Wade LeBlanc 0-2 vs. Touki Toussaint 1-2
Friday, August 6 Adam Wainwright 9-6 vs. Mike Minor 8-9
Saturday, August 7 Kwang Hyun Kim 6-6 vs. Brad Keller 7-10
Sunday, August 8 John Lester 3-5 v.s Kris Bubic 3-5
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