After the homer-happy St. Louis Cardinals blasted past the Minnesota Twins on Saturday, the bats were relatively silent in Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon until later in the game, but it wasn’t enough to win the series against the Twins.
Both starters did their teams big favors on Sunday by going deep into the game. Michael McGreevy kept the Cardinals in the game into the 6th inning and Taj Bradley did the same (almost) for the Minnesota Twins. The early game was really just two more or less isolated
blasts. In the bottom of the 4th inning, Josh Bell singled and then scored when Victor Caratini crushed a home run into the right field stands giving the Twins a 2-1 lead after Alec Burleson launched another towering home run in his flaming hot streak in the top of the 4th inning.
The Minnesota Twins lineup was making hard contact against Michael McGreevy, but they had very little to show for it which allowed the Cardinals bats to eventually wake up and make it a game. After Nathan Church walked to lead off the top of the 6th inning, JJ Wetherholt did what JJ Wetherholt does which is give the Cardinals the kind of hit exactly when they need it. In this case, it was a clutch 2-run homer to right giving the St. Louis Cardinals a 3-2 lead, his 10th of the season.
Several moments that won’t show up on many scorecards or highlight reels, but need to be shouted out. First, early in the game when Michael McGreevy got Byron Buxton out, manager Oli Marmol walked down the length of the dugout and gave the Cardinals gold Amazon home run chain to pitching coach Dusty Blaze. Classic. Another stellar defensive play in the bottom of the 6th inning when the Minnesota Twins had a runner on first base with just one out, Blaze Jordan made a diving catch on a line drive and then dove back to the base and tagged the runner out for an inning-ending double play. You’re going to be wearing those birds on the bat for a long time I predict, Mr. Jordan.
Michael McGreevy gave the Cardinals a full 6-inning quality start Sunday giving up 7 hits (some of them very loud), but only allowing 2 earned runs while striking out only 2 and walking 2. The hard hit rate from Michael can be unnerving, but the simple fact is the Cardinals tend to win games he starts and that’s really one of the best things you can say about a Major League starter.
The St. Louis Cardinals would get a valuable insurance run in the top of the 7th inning after José Fermín’s two-out single (which extends his now 8-game hitting streak). Nathan Church followed that up with another single which caused the Minnesota Twins manager Derek Shelton to remove Bradley so he wouldn’t face JJ Wetherholt again. Didn’t matter as JJ did another JJ thing by gracefully placing a single just over the shortstop scoring Fermín making it 4-2 Cardinals.
What was the Cardinals bullpen solution for the late innings after Michael McGreevy’s exit? In the 7th inning, it was JoJo Romero. The first batter he faced was Martin who not only struck out, but used the Twins final challenge of the day. The second batter was Keaschall who JoJo felt the need to walk. The third hitter was pinch-hitter Kreidler who smacked a single into left field giving Minnesota runners at first and third with just one out and Byron Buxton at the plate. (*shudder*) He lined the second pitch he saw into left field cutting the Cardinals lead in half making it 4-3 with the Twins still having runners on first and second with only one out. Clemens also singled to right which loaded the bases and inspired Oli Marmol to remove Romero from the game. George Soriano entered this hornet’s nest and gave up yet another annoying single which tied the game at 4-4 bringing up the very dangerous Josh Bell to the plate. Fortunately for St. Louis, Josh also strikes out a lot which is what he did in the Twins 7th giving St. Louis a badly-needed second out. They weren’t out of the woods yet, though, as the very hot Caratini nearly unloaded the bases flying out to very deep left field as Lars Nootbaar grabbed it before stumbling up against the left field wall. Whew.
George Soriano was also the Cardinals answer for the bottom of the 8th inning with the goal of keeping the game tied. He was almost successful. With two outs, he gave up back-to-back doubles to Keaschall and Kreidler giving the Twins a 5-4 lead. It could have been worse, but Soriano was able to strike out the fearsome Byron Buxton keeping St. Louis just one run down.
The Twins sent Yoendrys Gómez to the mound to try and lock up the series win for Minnesota. After a successful challenge of what was called an infield hit for José Fermín, it was up to Nathan Church and JJ Wetherholt. Church struck out by chasing two pitches that were very much not in the strike zone. JJ Wetherholt hit a ball deep to center, but just got under it a little too much flying out to end the game.
The St. Louis Cardinals return to Busch Stadium Monday night as they’ll host the San Diego Padres. Dustin May will make the start for the Cardinals while the starter for the Padres is to be determined. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45pm at Busch Stadium and the TV broadcast will be available on Cardinals.tv.
