Game Summary
The Cardinals charged out to a 5-0 lead on the back of a 3-run HR by Blaze Jordan in the second and a 2-run HR by Ramon Urias in the fourth. Gordon Graceffo strapped the team on his back, leading out with 3 perfect innings as the opener, throwing in 4 strikeouts in his best outing of the year.
A line of Cardinal relievers wobbled and incrementally allowed the Oriole’s to tighten the game to a 1-run lead, but a key RBI hit late by Church built a 2-run cushion for the leverage side of the bullpen. Riley
O’Brien was solid in the ninth to finish the game for his 34th save.
Pre-game notes
- Quick as a hiccup, this team that had won 5 out of 6 series to get back into WC contention has now lost 5 in a row. The wheels seemingly coming off with a spate of injuries, scheduling challenges, bullpen hijinks and slumps all conspiring to gather at the table over the past week. Sequencing can be a bear at times, no?
- This morning is the series finale against the previously moribund Orioles who came into St. Louis five games under .500 and look to leave it now launched into their own WC race in the American League.
- It is hard not to notice that this team has givem up less than 7 runs only once in the past eight games. Today portends more of the same with a bullpen game planned, with a struggling bullpen the key element of that.
- Graceffo opens for the Cardinals. Trevor Rodges opens for the Orioles. He is their best pitcher.
- Fermin leads off and starts at SS. Burleson mans first base . Note that his wRC+ versus LHP has returned to league average during the season’s second half. Urias at 2B. Baez in LF. Pages behind the plate to give the line-up the most RH lean they can muster. The lineup features only three hitters with OPS above MLB average.
- In a twist, Strzeleki to the IL and Cade Winquest is added to the 40-man roster and activated for this game.
The first innings
Graceffo leads of sharply in the, striking out the first two batters and getting a line out. The Cardinal match the results in the bottom of one. The second inning for Graceffo was as good as the first, with another K and dispatching the O’s quickly. In the bottom of 2nd, Blaze Jordan adds to his legend with a 3-run HR following a Burly single and a Baez double. Well struck into the grass background into CF. If it went into the bleachers, no one would have been hurt, as they were virtually empty. Yet another quick 3rd inning caps off Gordon Graceffo’s best outing of the year. 9 batters up, 9 batters down with 4 Ks. Just what the doctor orders when the pitching has gone awry. My hat is off.
The middle innings
Into the 4th, Bruihl relieves Graceffo and immediately invites trouble with a double to Holliday, but 2 Ks and a pop out turn the inning back his way. In the bottom of 4th, Urias follows a Burly single with an HR into the flower pot just behind the wall to build the Cardinal lead to 5-0.
Bruihl remains in the game to start the fifth and invites trouble again with a double followed by a walk (I hate walks!). An infield out advances the runners and one scores on a following SacFly. At this point Gastelum relieves with two out and RISP and K’s hit batter. He has been sharp recently. And rubber armed, seemingly.
In the bottom of the 5th, Fermin singles and steals 2nd. Herrera walks. Walker singles to load the bases as this station-to-station struggles with getting the extra base. Burly picks up RBI number ninety-nine with an infield out, restoring the Cardinal five run lead to 6-1.
Gastelum gets through the O’s order in the sixth without trepidation. Sanders relieves Rodgers for the O’s and returns the favor. Through 6, the Orioles are down 6-1 against the Cardinal bullpen and probably thinking they have the Cardinals exactly where they want them.
The decisive and bitter end
Ferguson gets the seventh inning and a single, walk and HR to Coby Mayo spice up an otherwise boring (not!) game. A K and a ground out get Ferguson out of the inning without further damage, but the lead is cut to 6-4. A rash of challenges broke out in the bottom of the seventh, but alas, no further scoring.
The game proceeded into the eight with Soriano on the mound. Single, K, SB and double returned the game to a one run nail biter. Worse, Blaze Jordan appeared seriously injured when a come backer to Soriano turns into an out at third with a TOOTBLAN by Holliday, who did not need to advance. A flyball finishes the inning with a 6-5 Cardinal lead. In the bottom of the eighth, the Urias walked, advanced on a gift WP and Church drove him in to extend the lead back to two.
Into the top of the ninth, we found Riley O’Brien in for a save. Have gave up a two-out single, but otherwise navigated the ninth uneventfully to right the listing ship a bit. Cardinals win 7-5.
Post-Game Notes
- Be sure and check out “Tonight on the Farm – Thursday 8.27” over at The Feed.
- Some will undoubtedly be disappointed that the Cardinals did not promote Hjerpe to open this game, choosing instead to promote Winquest in Strzeleki’s spot. If asked, I’d suspect the answer would be they are keeping to their script of no shortcuts, and keeping to long-view in mind. Hjerpe’s time will come. Likely next spring is the preferred timeline.
- Look for a pitcher transaction (or two?) before tomorrow’s game.
- ROB is 34 out 39 save opportunities. Late blown saves hurt and tend to involve magnified reactions, but at the end of the day, 34 out of 39 (85%) is a pretty decent result from a closer.
