Quiet Sundays can be a good thing, but not when it describes what happened to the St. Louis Cardinals bats as the Royals avoided a sweep winning 2-0.
Andre Pallante was not the Cardinals problem Sunday as he gave them 6 2/3 innings allowing 8 hits, 1 earned run striking out 7 with no walks. Unfortunately, Salvador Perez was his nemesis knocking in the first run on a sacrifice fly in the 1st inning scoring Garcia who singled then advanced on an error by Victor Scott II making it 1-0 Royals after 1.
All was relatively quiet until the 4th inning when it was Salvador Perez who hit a towering 393 foot solo shot off off Pallante pitch upping the Royals lead to 2-0.
It could have been much worse as Nathan Church made a diving catch on a shot from Bobby Witt Jr. to wrap up the top of the 3rd inning with a runner aboard. Feel free to insert your favorite “Church on Sunday” phrase here.
Stephen Kolek pitched a gem for the Kansas City Royals. He tossed an extremely solid 6 1/3 innings. He last batter was Masyn Winn who grounded into a fielder’s choice after he hustled to avoid a double play. Unfortunately, Masyn was also taken out of the game because of a yet unnamed injury/discomfort. Cesar Prieto was the pinch-runner who was brought in for Masyn and also replaced him at shortstop.
Happy to report that both Matt Svanson was solid in relief of Andre Pallante Sunday. He did not allow any additional damage to keep the Cardinals within striking distance in the late innings. Justin Bruihl did get into a bit of a mess allowing the first two on-base in the top of the 9th inning. Matt Pushard added to the misery by nailing pinch-hitter Loftin in the hand to load the bases, but he was able to strikeout Isbel for the first out and then get a groundball double play from Garcia to send the game into the bottom of the 9th with St. Louis at least having a chance.
The Kansas City Royals brought in their closer Lucas Erceg to try and shut the Cardinals down. All Jordan Walker could manage was a groundout to third base. Nolan Gorman managed to draw a walk bringing up Cesar Prieto as the potential tying run. He barreled a ball that unfortunately was directed straight at right fielder Lane Thomas for the second out. Nathan Church was the Cardinals final hope. He battled for 10 pitches, but grounded out for the final out of the game.
The Cardinals have Monday off and will be back at Busch Stadium Tuesday night as they’ll begin a series against NL Central foe the Pittsburgh Pirates. Matthew Liberatore is scheduled to pitch for the Cardinals while the Pirates will send Mitch Keller to the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45pm central time.
