Game Summary
Mathew Liberatore makes an early 2-0 lead hold up. The bullpen gets 11 outs with only 1 run allowed to finish the task, supported by a late solo HR by Gorman and a 2-run triple by Contreras that provided needed insurance. Contreras gets 3 hits, 4 RBI. Gorman with 3 hits and an RBI on the aforementioned HR (and several defensive gems). These two were pretty much the offense tonight, although Winn got on and scored twice from the lead-off spot.
Pre-Game Notes
- A chance to win a series tonight.
- A day off tomorrow, then the Giants come into town.
- Then off to Seattle. I will be there in person.
- Liam Doyle assigned to Palm Beach. Per Denton@MLB.com, he starts Saturday.
- Contreras suspension still up in the air.
Line-up (and roster) machinations
- Liberatore vs. Springs in a match-up of lefties.
- Walker, Scott and Nootbaar in the OF.
- Gorman, Winn, Saggese, Contreras on the IF.
- Pages at C. Herrera at DH.
- Somewhere I picked up a tidbit that they are shelving O’Brien for the remainder of the season, but I can’t find it. Did I miss something here?
The Game Summary
Mathew Liberatore comes out and pitches like the Libby
we saw in the first half, with five (actually 5.1) shutout innings punctuated with 7 K’s and but one BB. His velocity held pretty steady 94s early and still 93s in the fifth. 81 total pitches. His 81st and last pitch was a 95 mph FB that got Kurtz out on a lazy fly. He had a really nice curveball and slider and induced a number of backwards K.
Willson Contreras had a key 2-RBI single in the third inning that Libby held up. He did get himself thrown out at second on the play that scored the two runs. He had held at first but took off late when the relay man committed to throwing home. I’m not sure about that decision, but we’ll take the two runs.
Leahy relieved Libby as the bullpen was asked to get eleven outs and finished the sixth with two more K’s. Then he worked through the seventh inning and into the eighth, where he gives up a HR to Kurtz to shrink the lead to 3-1, then a double to Rooker. Quite the contrast for the A’s offense. No K’s last night (at all!), nine through six innings tonight. Romero had to rescue the eighth inning, getting an excellent play from Gorman that withstood the vagaries of an umpire challenge for the final out. The ruling was confirmed on a bang-bang play.
In the bottom of the eighth, Winn got on with a walk and the A’s intentionally walked Nootbaar to pitch to Contreras. I guess that made sense to get the right-on-right match-up, but I wondered about the wisdom of it. Contreras responded with a 2-run triple on a play that might have been made by a competent leftfielder (but perhaps not).
Romero completes the task with a multi-inning save, supported again in the ninth with outstanding defense by Gorman and Saggese.
Post-Game Notes and Observations
- Gorman had been on a strikeout binge recently. I’ve been curious how he’d come out of that. Tonight, he had hits in his first two ABs (against a lefty even) and added a homerun, which I took as a positive sign about his progression as a hitter. The ability to correct/re-direct quickly is key to keeping slumps short.
- Cardinals cross 2,000,000 in attendance tonight. 40th year in a row (full seasons only). Only the Dodgers and Cardinals can claim that.
- The Cardinals scored a total of 8 runs in the three-game series, and won two of the games, with some nice pitching efforts.
- The top of the A’s lineup is tough. Langeliers, Wilson, Kurtz and Rooker is a good core to build a line-up around. Defense could be a tougher fit for this team and they need more complementary pieces.
- Watch for the Farm Report on the Feed at VEB. Coming soon.
