Tuesday night’s game between the Cardinals and Giants started out with a bang from both teams. Bombs from both Bryce Eldridge and Alec Burleson were just the beginning of a lot of offense especially from the San Francisco Giants lineup.
It didn’t take long before Andre Pallante was greeted rudely by the bats of the Giants and the Cardinals defense didn’t help the issue. Drew Gilbert led off and reached on an error from Masyn Winn. That brought up Bryce Eldridge who hit the longest home run in Busch
Stadium this season. With an exit velocity of 112 mph, he launched a Pallante slider 461 feet into the right field stands giving the Giants a 2-0 lead.
The 1st inning circus continued with Cox was granted first base when it was ruled that Leo Bernal touched his foot. Cox then stole second and eventually took third base when Lee grounded out. After Basabe flied out to left, Hill singled to right to give San Francisco another run making it 3-0.
St. Louis would get a run back in the bottom of the 1st inning when Alec Burleson ripped an 88 mph slider from Blade Tidwell 376 feet into the Cardinals bullpen in right briefly reducing the San Francisco lead to 3-1.
Any feel good tendencies that Burleson’s homer inspired would all but disappear in the top of the 3rd inning when the Giants would unload on Andre Pallante. Cox reached on a bunt single when he beat Pallante to first after Burleson fielded it. Lee then doubled giving San Francisco runners at second and third with no outs. Andre would get Basabe to ground out without allowing a run, but that would only delay the Giants onslaught. San Francisco would get a run when Hill grounded out to Winn at short making it 4-1 San Francisco. After Cavanaugh walked, Hill singled to make it 5-1 Giants. McCray stole second before Koss singled to right scoring two more upping the San Francisco lead to 7-1.
The Cardinals would mount a counterattack in the bottom of the 3rd inning. It started with a single from Masyn Winn followed by José Fermín getting plunked with a pitch. Bryan Torres then walked to load the bases for St. Louis with no outs. Ivan Herrera made hard contact as he ripped a line drive to left, but it was caught and ended up being a sacrifice fly giving the Cardinals their 2nd run making it slightly more interesting at 7-2. Unfortunately that’s all St. Louis would get as Alec Burleson and Jordan Walker struck out to end the Cardinals 3rd.
The Giants would restore their 6-run lead in the top of the 4th inning when Bryce Eldridge drew a leadoff walk. He would score three batters later when Basabe doubled down the right field line which made the score 8-2 Giants.
Andre Pallante managed to survive 5 full innings for the Cardinals, but his numbers for the night were not pretty. Over those 5 innings, Andre surrendered 8 hits, gave up 6 earned runs, struck out 2 and walked 2. He was relieved in the top of the 6th inning by Brycen Mautz. He enjoyed a drama-free 1-2-3 inning which was a small bright spot. He walked two in the top of the 7th, but was able to pitch out of the jam without allowing any additional Giants runs. His mission directive was obviously “eat innings” as Brycen was also assigned mound responsibilities in the top of the 8th inning when he was greeted by back-to-back one out doubles from Harris and Eldridge which increased the Giants advantage further to 9-2. Cade Winquest came in to pitch the rest of the game for the Cardinals.
If you’re wondering where the other Cardinals offensive highlights are, Thomas Saggese got the 3rd St. Louis hit in the bottom of the 7th inning if that gives you any idea. He was the last batter faced by Giants starter Blade Tidwell who the Cardinals bats made look like Don Drysdale. San Francisco brought in Jason Foley in relief to finish off the Cardinals 7th.
The Cardinals got a smidge of offense in the bottom of the 8th inning when José Fermín led off with a double. Three batters later, Nolan Gorman singled him in to give St. Louis 33% of the Giants runs leaving them with a 9-3 lead which would have been the final score if Hill had not decided to hit a 9th inning solo shot to make it 10-3 Giants.
The St. Louis Cardinals only have 10 games left in their season and the next one will be against the San Francisco Giants Wednesday afternoon at Busch Stadium. Matthew Liberatore will start for the Cardinals while the Giants will assign pitching duties to RHP Anthony Molina. First pitch is set for 12:15pm central time with the game broadcast available via Cardinals.tv.
