After coming to within a game of .500 last night with a 4-2 win over the Reds, the Cardinals couldn’t finish the job. They jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to Nolan Gorman and Thomas Saggese, but they couldn’t make those early runs stand up. The Reds rallied for three in the second inning to take the lead. In the third, Ivan Herrera tied the game with a sacrifice fly, but Cincinnati went back ahead with a two-run homer by Austin Hays.
The Cardinals drew closer in the seventh, making it 5-4,
but the Reds got that run right back with a Ke’Bryan Hayes single and Matt McLain homered in the eighth to make it 7-4. St. Louis came up empty in the ninth. Let’s get into some takeaways.
Pallante struggles again
I was a little worried about this game with Andre Pallante starting, especially after his blowup outing at home against the Pirates. He got through the first inning without any problems, but things went awry in the second inning. Granted, an error by Cesar Prieto didn’t help. But Hayes drove in the first run to make it 2-1 and TJ Friedl drove in two with a single of his own. Pallante was only charged for two earned runs, but I still wasn’t overly impressed by him today. All the runs that scored in the second were unearned, but at the same time, he still needs to find a way to get out of trouble, so while it wasn’t all his fault, he certainly wasn’t sharp today. His pitch count got a little high late in his outing, and he still allowed the home run to Hays to make it 5-3.
There were certainly things that looked better, but this isn’t exactly one to write home about either, and the Cardinals just aren’t getting any good results out of him.
A day of firsts
Down 5-3 in the seventh, the Cardinals got a little gift from Jimmy Crooks, who made his MLB debut on Friday night and got his first start today. He drove a 3-2 pitch from Sam Moll out to right field for his first career home run, which also happened to be his first career hit, and he hit the ball pretty good.
This was good to see, and it’s nice that Crooks is finally getting an opportunity to show what kind of player he can be. He’s got power from the left side and is one of many great catchers the Cardinals have within the organization, and it was good to see him experience such a fantastic moment with his family in attendance.
Cesar Prieto also had a first. In the top of the ninth inning, he got a hit of Emilio Pagan, which was his first in the big leagues. Though Spencer Steer couldn’t field it cleanly and get it to first base in time, it was just enough for Prieto to have his first career hit.
So, while the Cardinals failed to sweep today, two of their young guys really got to experience some special moments. They’ll head home to take on the Athletics and Giants this week.
