Summary
Mathew Liberatore a quality start. Until the ninth, the Giants produced all the runs in the game, fortunately gifting 2 to the Cardinals. In the ninth, the Cardinals strung together hits and tied up a 4-2 game.
Alas, closer Riley O’Brien came in the preserve the tie, but gave up a two run homer on his first pitch and the Cardinals end up losing 6-5.
Pre-game Notes
- Liberatore for the Cardinals. Anthony Molina for the Giants.
- Wetherholt comes off the disabled list and returns to the line-up today, batting leadoff.
- Herrera gets a day off. Is that his first of the season?
- Bernal at DH (and batting second). That’s a interesting look. Provides a twist to the traditional L-R-L alignment.
- Pages behind the dish.
- Saggese at short as Winn gets two days to rest that thumb.
The first innings
Liberatore led out by walking the first two batters, as the crowded murmured and likely were thinking “Here we go again”. Some good pitching, with some
tactical errors by the Giants led to Libby getting out of the inning unscathed. The #3 batter showed bunt, with 2 on, nobody out. The #3 batter? Really? He popped out. The next guy had a shallow fly to left. With two out, the lead off hitter (Cox) stole third with a huge jump, but Page back-picked the trail runner for the third out. Not quite the Cardinal sin of making a third out at third base, but pretty much same result, huh? In the bottom, the Cardinals went down 1-2-3. JJW got a nice round of applause, tho.
In the second, Libby was much sharper, allowing only a cue shot 50’ single to Knizner that Gorman couldn’t barehand cleanly. In the bottom, the Cardinals went down 1-2-3.
The third was a similar redux of the first. After one out, the lead-off hitter Cox singled and Eldridge walked again. Cox easily stole third again, but Eldridge smartly stayed home this time and avoided running into an out. In an odd play, Cox scored on an inning ending GIDP. How? Grounder to Burly who stepped on first, eliminating the force at second. The runner crossed the plate before the lead runner was tagged out. 1-0 Giants. In the bottom, Church scratches a single, but otherwise quiet.
The middle innings
Libby works a quick top of the fourth. In the bottom, Walker works a walk (plus his 2oth stolen base), but otherwise nothing. Molina starting to pile up the K’s against the Cardinal hitters.
In the fifth, Knizner singled and a double followed. A short fly was unable to drive in a run, a K gave Libby a pathway out and he took it by inducing Eldridge to ground out to first. Nice job. In the bottom, Church scratches out a single, but otherwise nothing.
In the sixth, two singles with a K sandwiched in between created more traffic for Libby. But another tactical error by the Giants results in a DP after a liner is caught and the lead runner wandered to far way. Libby finishes with 6 IP 6h 1r 3bb 2k on 81 pitches. Odd line, but effective. In the bottom, Molina gets the first two outs and is removed. The best start of his young career, he sawed through the Cardinals, allowing only 2 scratch singles and a walk to go with 6 K. The lefty Abner is brought in to face Libby and struck him out.
The decisive and bitter end
Gastelum in for the seventh. He starts out inauspiciously with an HBP to noted slugger Andrew Knizner. A pop out and a single followed. Two more singles follow and Walker makes two ill-advised throws resulting in two more runs, one of which becomes unearned. Gastelum struck out the remaining hitters to restore order. In the bottom, the Giants gift the Cardinals 2 runs without benefit of hit. Two walks, two errors and a wild pitch cuts the lead back to one run, 3-2 Giants.
Bruihl out for the eighth. A single and another outfield error creates more stress. This has been a pretty ragged game for both teams. Graceffo replaces Bruihl and a quick RBI single extend the Giants lead. In the bottom, Burleson doubled but was stranded there.
In the ninth, Graceffo had traffic but a caught stealing helped him get out of it. In the ninth, Gorman led off with a walk and Sags followed with an infield hit. Church struck out in a crucial moment. Herrera pinch hit and walks to load the bases. Fermin with a SacFly tightens the game. With two strikes, Bernal delivers a key RBI single to tie the game. Turn About is fair play. Closer Smith is out after 30 pitches. The inning ends there and off to extra innings we go.
Bonus baseball
ROB in to preserve the lead. One pitch later, the score is 6-4. a walk and GIDP help. In the bottom, Burly starts at second. Two walks and a SacFly tighten the game and a line out by Church ends it. 6-5 Giants.
Post-Game Notes
- Did you see Springfield’s spirited walk-off win last night over Tulsa? That was fun.
- Perhaps a meaningless stat, but last night, there were more comments on the unofficial Springfield game thread than there was on the Cardinals game thread. Hmmm.
- The Cardinals’ off-season work begins today with Strzeleki and Urias being DFA.
- What do you think is the possibility that this was Liberatore’s last home start for the Cardinals?
- Unusually, the home record was not so strong this year. Random variance, or something structural?
- Facing teams like the Giants and Rockies recently, I was kind of hoping the Cardinals who show better. It bothers me they did not.
