It’s been said that it’s not how you start, but how you finish. That’s a good thing because Matthew Liberatore’s first pitch of the game got torched, but he didn’t finish poorly at all. Would that be enough for the St. Louis Cardinals to win the first game of their homestand against the Chicago White Sox? The Cardinals offense and bullpen would ultimately have to answer that question. Fortunately, the middle of the Cardinals lineup would show up big time.
After a brief rain delay, Matthew Liberatore
threw his first pitch which was a 93 mph four-seam fastball. It left the bat of Chicago White Sox leadoff man Chase Meidroth faster than that and traveled 398 feet into the left field plants for an immediate 1-0 White Sox lead. Former Cardinal Randall Grichuk followed that with a double to the right field wall and it looked like the wheels might come off of Liberatore’s wagon right out of the gate. Fortunately, he pitched around the Grichuk double and a walk later in the first only allowing that lone White Sox run on the homer.
The Cardinals bats answered in the bottom of the 1st inning when they were gifted a base when White Sox starter Anthony Kay hit Iván Herrera with a pitch. Alec Burleson made them pay when he ripped a double into the right field corner which scored a hustling Herrera tying the game at 1-1.
St. Louis would take the lead in the bottom of the 2nd inning when Leo Bernal ripped a double into the left-centerfield gap. Thomas Saggese singled to center which moved Bernal to third. Leo then scored when Masyn Winn grounded out to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.
We all had a sense of the wrong kind of Deja vu in the top of the 3rd inning when Chicago White Sox leadoff man Chase Meidroth launched an 88 mph Matthew Liberatore changeup into nearly the same spot he hit his first home run over the left field wall tying the game 2-2.
The Cardinals bats did not go for a nap for a change as St. Louis rallied for another run in the bottom of the 3rd inning when Jordan Walker led off with a solid single to center then advanced to second on a groundout from Alec Burleson. Joshua Báez added a single of his own to center which scored Walker giving the Cardinals a 3-2 lead.
Matthew Liberatore would get the Cardinals 1 out into the top of the 5th inning before he would be lifted by manager Oli Marmol for Gordon Graceffo. He would leave with a runner on 1st with a line of 4 1/3 innings pitched allowing 6 hits and 2 earned runs striking out 2 and walking 3. Not his best start of the year by far, but not his worst either and he did keep the Cardinals in the game unlike a few other outings. Graceffo would run into potential trouble for his part of the 5th as the White Sox would eventually load the bases with a walk and hit-by-pitch, but he’d strike out Peters to end the White Sox threat with no runs scored.
I haven’t heard an official nickname given, but I like the idea of Alec Burleson, Joshua Báez and Leo Bernal being known as the “killer B’s”. They lived up to that billing in the bottom of the 5th when they followed a nice Jordan Walker double to left with a single, double and single consecutively to give the Cardinals 3 more runs to increase the lead to 6-2.
Oh, the eternal question (or at least the one for the second half of this season) is whether the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen could hold that lead. Luis Gastelum entered the game in the top of the 6th inning and trouble appeared to follow him. After getting Montgomery to ground out for the first out, Antonacci and Teel both reached on singles to give the White Sox a scoring threat with runners on first and second with just one out. That situation was worsened by a Gastelum walk to Meidroth which loaded the bases for Randall Grichuk. Luis struck him out as Grichuk helped the cause by swinging at some balls out of the zone. It would come down to a crucial at-bat by Miguel Vargas. He connected with an 85 mph sweeper and drove it to the centerfield wall that Nathan Church bumped into as he caught the ball for the final out of the White Sox 6th. Whew!
The St. Louis defense had some nice highlights Friday night, too, especially Nathan Church who made two difficult catches including one in the top of the 7th where he slammed into the centerfield wall saving reliever Justin Bruihl some heartache.
Bruihl would not get bailed out in the top of the 8th inning when he hit Antonacci with a pitch and then gave up a single to Teel allowing the White Sox runners on first and third with no outs. That inspired Oli Marmol to remove Justin for Ryne Stanek. He struck out Meidroth who had homered twice earlier in the game for the first out in the White Sox 8th. That brought up Munetaka Murakami who has 31 home runs on the season, but Stanek got him to ground into a force out at second for the second out, but a run scored on the play reducing the St. Louis lead to 7-3. Stanek would escape the top of the 8th when Vargas grounded out to Urias at third for the final out helped by a nice play by Burleson at first who had to be creative snagging the throw from Urias.
I remember the days when the St. Louis Cardinals would have a 4-run lead going into the top of the 9th inning and I’d feel comfortable with that number. This year? Not so much. Riley O’Brien was brought in to handle the middle of the White Sox lineup starting with Colson Montgomery. He struck him out on 3 pitches. No problem. Next up was Benintendi. He flew out innocently to Victor Scott II who was a defensive replacement in right. Tristan Peters was the last home for the White Sox. He grounded out weakly to Burleson. No drama in the 9th? Pinch me, I must be dreaming. More of this please!
Joshua Báez came about as close as you can come to hitting a home run in Busch Stadium without actually hitting a home run in the bottom of the 7th inning. He turned on an 89 mph slider and hit it off of the padding at the top of the left field wall that came back into the field of play which was confirmed to be a double after a crew chief’s review. He would eventually score anyway when Leo Bernal smacked a RBI single to left making it 7-2 Cardinals.
