The St. Louis Cardinals were hoping for an encore performance after a slugfest Monday night that they came out on top of against the New York Yankees. Tuesday night’s game was a completely different type of game as Hunter Dobbins for the Cardinals and Ryan Weathers were in a bit of a pitcher’s duel. The Cardinals would get their share of hits, but lacked enough runs to support Dobbins quality start.
Both pitchers were stingy for the first 6 innings at Yankee Stadium Tuesday night. The Yankees were first on
the board in the bottom of the 2nd inning when Jazz Chisholm Jr. lifted a sky-high 397 foot fly ball into the right field stands for a 1-0 Yankees lead.
The Yankees got their second run in the bottom of the 5th inning when prospect extraordinaire George Lombard Jr. got ahold of one of Hunter Dobbins 81 mph sweepers and blasted it into the left field stands for his first Major League hit and the second Yankees run of the night making it 2-0.
The Cardinals would start a two-out rally in the top of the 6th inning when JJ Wetherholt drew a walk. When Iván Herrera singled up the middle, Wetherholt aggressively went first-to-third giving St. Louis runners at 1st and 3rd with two outs. José Fermín worked the count full against Weathers before barreling a 94 mph sinker that unfortunately sailed directly into the glove of leftfielder Ramos ending the Cardinals scoring threat.
Ryan Weathers pitched 6 innings of scoreless ball for the Yankees allowing just 4 hits while striking out 6. Hunter Dobbins was nearly his match for the Cardinals other than the two solo home runs. He pitched into the 7th inning as his pitch count didn’t hit 80 until the Yankees bottom of the 7th started. He would depart with one out in the 7th after McMahon singled and Lombard Jr. walked after throwing 91 pitches. He was relieved by newcomer Caleb Ferguson who the Cardinals bought from the Reds prior to the trade deadline for $250,000 in international pool money and he promptly got a double play ball on his first pitch to get the Cardinals out of the bottom of the 7th.
The Cardinals would load the bases in the top of the 8th inning after Pedro Pagés singled and Bryan Torres walked. JJ Wetherholt grounded out to the pitcher, but Lombard Jr. fell down at short taking away the double play possibility. The Yankees would eventually decide to intentionally walk pinch-hitter Alec Burleson which was wise considering the fact that he launched 3 home runs Monday night. Unfortunately, Nelson Velázquez struck out on 3 straight splitters to end the Cardinals chance to score.
After Caleb Ferguson held the Yankees scoreless in the bottom of the 8th inning, the Cardinals had one more chance to come up with some runs. Masyn Winn led off the 9th inning against Yankees reliever Bednar. He worked a full count before lining out to Chisholm Jr. at second for the first out. Next up was Blaze Jordan who struck out on a 91 mph splitter. Final Cardinals hope was Nathan Church who struck out confirmed by the ABS challenge.
End result? Cardinals with 6 hits, but no runs. Yankees with 5 hits and 2 runs. When your pitching staff only gives up 2 runs on 2 solo homers, you should win that game. Didn’t happen for the Cardinals Tuesday night.
It’s game 3 as the St. Louis Cardinals tackle the New York Yankees again Wednesday night. Andre Pallante hopes for another strong start for the Cardinals while the Yankees will start RHP Will Warren who’s 8-5 on the season with a 4.14 ERA. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05pm central time at Yankee Stadium and the TV broadcast will be available via Cardinals.tv.
