The Cardinals pulled out yet another exciting win on Saturday night, defeating the Reds 4-2 and taking the series. They now have moved to within a game of the .500 mark and will go for a sweep tomorrow. It was an ominous start. They stranded the bases loaded in the first inning and got caught up in an infield fly call. Ivan Herrera was tagged in between third base and home plate to end the inning. The Reds struck first in the bottom half, making it 1-0.
But the Cardinals drove Andrew Abbott’s pitch
count up, and with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the fourth, Nathan Church came through with a two-run single to put St. Louis in front. Willson Contreras hit a solo homer in the top of the seventh to make it 3-1, and after the Reds drew closer, Pedro Pages got that run right back for the Cardinals with a solo homer. Let’s break this one down.
McGreevy dominates at GABP
Starting for the Cardinals was Michael McGreevy, and he got off to a bit of a rocky start, but settled in almost instantly. The first inning was his only rough inning. After that, he was lights-out. In the end, he went six innings, scattering five hits, allowing just two walks and one run.
This is certainly encouraging to see. Right now, I think it’s safe to say that the only good thing going for the Cardinals rotation is McGreevy. He has been their best pitcher lately, and he has proven that he has the potential to be a great pitcher at the big-league level, so it will be exciting to watch him grow over these next few years during the rebuild
Cardinals make history with no Ks in win
In this day and age, swing-and-miss and strikeouts are all the rage. In fact, if you don’t get any strikeouts as a staff, it typically isn’t a winning formula. But tonight, the Cardinals accomplished something that they hadn’t done since 2009, which was win a game without recording a single strikeout.
That’s not something that they should look to repeat, as it really isn’t a winning formula these days, but it’s quite impressive, and does go to show that while strikeouts are important, they aren’t the be-all, end-all. It matters that outs are recorded, not always how. But we saw great work tonight from JoJo Romero and Kyle Leahy in relief of McGreevy after Jorge Alcala allowed a solo homer in the seventh.
It doesn’t matter how you win, just that you win. The Cardinals will go for a sweep tomorrow behind Andre Pallante.
