There’s nothing quite as heartwarming as letting your former team know what they gave up on. Nelson Velázquez greeted the Chicago Cubs by slamming the first pitch he saw into the visitor’s bullpen helping the St. Louis Cardinals win Friday night. He was joined in the home run parade by Ivan Herrera and Thomas Saggese, but more on that later.
Andre Pallante struggled and that’s putting it kindly. In the top of the first inning, Andre was able to get Pete Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner out, but then
allowed Chicago to do a lot of two out scoring. Michael Busch singled and Alex Bregman both singled before Cardinal killer Ian Happ greeted a Andre Pallante 4-seam meatball by sending it 407 feet into the stands giving Chicago an early 3-0 lead.
Fortunately, it did not take long for the Cardinals to respond. In the bottom of the 1st, Iván Herrera had a ball glance off of his toe and then Jordan Walker lived up to his name and walked which brought up Nelson Velázquez who played his first Major League game as a Chicago Cub in May of 2022 until he was traded to Kansas City the following year. Nelson celebrated his call-up from Memphis by destroying a Shota Imanaga 4-seam fastball giving it a 411 foot ride tying the game at 3-3. Yo Nelly indeed.
Andre Pallante looked uncomfortable in the top of the 2nd inning as he gave up a single to Dansby Swanson and then walked Nico Hoerner with two outs. Michael Busch punished him by singling in Swanson allowing Chicago to jump back in the lead 4-3.
The resilient Cardinals answered that challenge again in the bottom of the 4th inning when Thomas Saggese homered to left-center tying the game again 4-4.
Andre Pallante would only last 3 innings giving up 8 hits and 4 earned runs while striking out 3 and walking 1. Justin Bruihl would come in for relief in the 4th inning before handing the ball to Gordon Graceffo who entered the game in the top of the 5th inning, but only being allowed to throw 10 pitches. George Soriano pitched the top of the 6th inning. They were able to keep the Cubs off of the scoreboard in the middle of the game giving St. Louis a chance to grab the lead for the first time which they did thanks to Ivan Herrera slamming his 7th home run of the season. At that point, it was 5-4 Cardinals.
The late innings were handled by JoJo Romero who took over in the top of the 7th inning and had the honor of being the first Cardinals pitcher to get Michael Busch out Friday night as he was 3 for 3 before JoJo struck him out. He also struck out Ian Happ which proves it’s possible for a St. Louis pitcher to accomplish this. Ryne Stanek was tasked with the top of the 8th inning. He gave up a leadoff single to Seiya Suzuki, but struck out Michael Conforto with a nasty split finger third strike. After Carson Kelly grounded out in front of the mound, Stanek appeared to tweak his knee a bit, but he stayed in the game. Ryne was able to close out the Cubs in the top of the 8th by getting Dansby Swanson to fly out to Walker in right field.
The Cardinals would add some badly-needed insurance in the bottom of the 8th inning when Nelson Velázquez reached on an infield single. After Alec Burleson struck out, Masyn Winn (who had 2 hits on the night) went the other way with a pitch into right field giving St. Louis a scoring chance that was delivered on when José Fermín singled into left upping the Cardinals lead to 6-4.
Riley O’Brien was brought in to lock down the game for St. Louis in the top of the 9th inning. He was rudely greeted by Pete Crow-Armstrong who knocked the 2nd pitch he saw off of the right field wall for a double. Nico Hoerner then nailed Riley in the back of the leg with a ball back up the middle, but he was able to recover and get the first out at first. O’Brien got Michael Busch to ground out scoring Armstrong from third, but the Cardinals were still clinging to their 6-5 lead. Alex Bregman grounded out to Masyn Winn to end the game and give St. Louis a very important early season victory.
Game 2 of the rivalry will happen Saturday night at Busch Stadium as Kyle Leahy will make the start for the St. Louis Cardinals while the Chicago Cubs will ask Ben Brown to take one for the team. Saturday night’s game will be a national broadcast on Fox with first pitch scheduled for 6:15pm.
