Tuesday night was a good ole pitchers duel at Busch Stadium with St. Louis Cardinals Andre Pallante matching the Phillies Cristopher Sanchez nearly pitch-for-pitch, but it would a couple of dramatic Cardinals late inning at-bats (and clutch relief appearance, too) that would eventually win the day for St. Louis.
The first 4 innings were a dead heat between Sanchez and Pallante. The Phillies had only managed 3 hits and the Cardinals only had 4. Both teams were bailed out by double plays that ended
scoring chances. It reminded me of some classic National League games I remember growing up as a kid in the 70’s and that’s not a complaint. In the top of the 5th inning, Pallante received a major defensive assist from new centerfielder Everson Pereira. Alec Bohm of the Phillies connected with an 88 mph Palante slider and blasted it to deep center when Pereira hit the wall at full stride, slammed into the wall and held onto the ball. I fully expected his next move would be to reveal a big “Superman” emblem on his chest.
To give credit where credit is due, Cristopher Sanchez of the Phillies was as good as advertised. The Cardinals had a lone scoring chance in the bottom of the 2nd inning when José Fermín and Masyn Winn singled giving St. Louis runners at first and third with just one out, but a double play ended that opportunity. For the first 6 innings, neither pitcher was budging. It’s a major compliment to Andre Pallante to say that he was a worthy competitor with the nasty stuff that Sanchez was dealing Tuesday night. Manager Oli Marmol removed Andre after 6 full innings and his stat line was solid. 6 innings allowing just 4 hits, no runs while striking out 3 and walking 2. Not exactly the equal of Sanchez performance, but close where it mattered which is on the scoreboard.
The St. Louis Cardinals bullpen took over in the top of the 7th when George Soriano entered the game. He got off to a good start striking out Realmuto and Stott, but allowed a hard single by Marsh past JJ’s glove into right field followed by a walk to Bohm. The Cardinals were fortunate that the bullet that came off of Crawford’s bat went straight to Jordan Walker’s glove in right field to end the Phillies scoring threat in the 7th.
The Phillies called on their depleted bullpen in the bottom of the 7th as Alex McFarlane took over for the excellent Sanchez. Jordan Walker gave St. Louis some hope as he drew a leadoff walk to start the Cardinals 7th and then he stole second. Alec Burleson struck out, but José Fermín moved Walker to third as he grounded out to short for the second out. It was Masyn Winn’s turn to play the role of potential hero as he stepped into a 100 mph sinker and drove it into right-center for a RBI single giving the Cardinals a precious 1-0 lead.
After George Soriano escaped the top of the 7th inning, it was Caleb Ferguson’s turn to tackle the top of the 8th inning with Kyle Schwarber and the rest of the top of the Phillies lineup coming to bat. He gave up a leadoff walk and that groan you might have heard at that moment was from ALL OF US. The Phillies pinch-ran for Schwarber with Hill who stole second base even though Pages had a rapid release and JJ Wetherholt made a nice swipe tag that barely missed getting him out. Ferguson then walked Trea Turner and the collective scream you might have heard was ALL OF US. Unbelievably, Caleb managed to walk Bryce Harper to load the bases with no outs. Hold on a second, I need to go sign up for some anger management classes. Back in a sec.
After a very ticked off looking Oli Marmol unceremoniously removed Ferguson from the game, Ryne Stanek was brought in to try and douse the developing dumpster fire. He managed to miraculously get Arraez to ground into a double play to Alec Burleson who fired the ball to home for a force with Pages firing it back to him. Wonderful! When Realmuto flied out to deep center for the final out of the Phillies 8th, all was right in the (Cardinals) universe again.
Here’s something I haven’t been able to say often enough this season. The Cardinals actually added an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th inning. Everson Pereira gave a long ride to an 87 mph slider from Phillies reliever Tim Mayza that landed in David Freese land in dead center field giving the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.
In the 9th inning, it was Riley O’Brien’s baby as he had to shut down the Phillies to close out an unexpected victory for the Cardinals. He had the bottom half of the Philadelphia lineup to deal with starting with Stott who Riley struck out with no difficulty. Next up was Brandon Marsh who ripped a line drive that conveniently landed in Alec Burleson’s glove. Alec Bohm’s meager groundout to Masyn Winn ended the game for a huge St. Louis victory.
The St. Louis Cardinal wrap up their homestand before heading off to Chicago with a game Wednesday afternoon against the Philadelphia Phillies. Kyle Leahy gets the nod from the Cardinals while Zack Wheeler will start for the Phillies. First pitch scheduled for 1:15pm central time at Busch Stadium and game TV broadcast will be available via Cardinals.tv.
