The Cardinals entered the night with a robust 8-5 record while the Red Sox were trying to avoid their 10th loss of the young season. The game was broadcast on Fox so we were given some Smoltz announcing action, which could be described as a mix of lackluster and uninformed.
Kyle Leahy was smooth and efficient in innings 1 and 2, not throwing any balls until the third batter, whom he retired in the first. The second inning was even more efficient except for a hit by pitch to none other than Willson
Contreras… who was erased from the basepaths because the Winn/Wetherholt middle infield defensive machine turned a double play.
In the second inning Thomas Saggese lined a single into the outfield off of Ranger Suarez, the Red Sox starting pitcher of the night. However, the Cardinals were not able to do anything else, leaving Saggese on base.
Leahy had only pitched 19 pitches going into the third inning. Kyle finally gave up a single, to Mayer, who hit a dying quail into the outfield. The Red Sox had a man on first with no out, just as the Cardinals had prior. Similarly, JJ Wetherholt helped turn a double play and there were two outs in the 3rd. Victor Scott II sealed the deal by catching a fly to center.
Unlike Leahy, Suarez was at nearly 40 pitches at this point in the game. Wetherholt lead off the inning, but him and Herrera were quick outs. Busch Stadium had a good attendance from the fans tonight, but the offense was absent in the third.
Top of the order for the Red Sox in the 4th inning, and they drew a walk from Leahy. Instead of being efficient and exact, he was nibbling around the zone. It was like the blueprint for this game was to have Leahy let a guy on base and then induce a ground into double play, would they do it again in the 4th? Flyout to Walker. 1 out. Finally the Red Sox avoided the double play with a hit by Duran to the outfield. The Red Sox gained the lead when Contreras also got a hit which rolled to the wall. 2-0 Boston.
With only one out, Trevor Story, who was batting 6th, was up. Leahy had really lost his efficiency and maybe confidence by this point. He then challenged Story with one up and in, and he foul tipped it into Pedro Pages glove for the out. 2 out. With a full count, Leahy barely missed low and walked Mayer. It didn’t matter because Carlos Narváez flew out sharply to center fielder Victor Scott II.
The bottom of the 4th had a single by Urias, but that was all she wrote for the Cardinals offense that inning.
Gordon Graceffo relieved Leahy in the 5th. The 4th inning got Kyle’s pitch count up, gone was his efficient outing, but hey, only down by 2 here. Graceffo struck out Rafaela. He got Roman Anthony to fly out to Fermin in left field. Caleb Durbin grounded out to Nolan Gorman to end the top of the 5th.
Suarez face the Cardinals bottom of the order to start out, got two outs, then in a 7 pitch inning, retired JJ Wetherholt. 2-0 Red Sox going into the top of the 6th. Suarez was locked in.
Gordon Graceffo was back on the mound in the 6th inning. He retired the first batter then faced Willson Contreras. Would he be able to contain the fury? Or would Willson knock Gordon around like a pinata spewing hi-chew? GG would persevere this time, striking out Contreras. Gordon Graceffo was superb tonight, succeeding in preventing runs for the 2nd inning in a row.
Suarez was absolutely dealing after his rough start tonight. With two outs in the bottom of the 6th, Gorman was up, 0-1. Ranger was still dealing tough, and struck out Nolan Gorman. Surprise surprise (not).
7th inning: Graceffo getting sort of a piggyback start, as he began his third inning in a row with a Trevor Story groundout. Facing second baseman Mayer who had been on base two times already, Graceffo walked him. Narvaez singled moving Mayer up to third base with 1 out. Gordon then hit Rafaela with a pitch, loading the bases!
At this point Oliver Marmol went to the bullpen and brought in Justin Bruihl. Roman Anthony was up, and the count went 3-0! 3-1. 3-2. He got the K! Big pitch! Then with 2 outs, Bruihl got Caleb Durbin to pop up! Still only 2-0 Boston after some dangerous but clutchy bullpen action.
In an extremely rare occurrence, Oliver Marmol challenged a challenge about if Fermin was hit by a pitch, and it ended up being catcher’s interference! So after Fermin was NOT rewarded the base by a hit by pitch, he was rewarded first base because of catcher’s interference. I didn’t even know you could challenge a challenge, you learn something new every day if you pay attention.
With Fermin on first with one out, Burleson was summoned to pinch hit. Off the bench, Burleson drew a walk. Runners on first and second. Then Nathan Church was brought into the game. He avoided the double play but hit into the force out. Pozo was brought in and could not muster a hit, either.
Bruihl was out again for the top of the 8th, and he got the out. Marmol then brought in Matt Svanson to face Willson Contreras (eek!). Could Matt Svanson start to put his beginning to the season behind him? Yes! He struck out Contreras with some junk in the dirt. Would Svanson persevere? Yes! Wilyer Abreu flew out to Church. Did it look good, no.
Jordan Walker owned the 8th inning by hitting his sixth home run to dead center vs Garrett Whitlock! Amazing!
Jordan Walker’s 6 home runs in his 14th game of the season.
In a move that probably freaked out most fans but at least built some confidence back into Matt Svanson, Svanson was brought back out to pitch another inning, in a game where Marmol appeared to be banking for extra innings. Or, just wanted to keep most of the bullpen fresh?
Would Svanson be up to the challenge, despite his struggles? He let Story on base, there was one out… 2-2 to Narvaez… he got a hit. Runners at first and third… Svanson still? yep… it would not be a good move, as Rafaela drove in a run, extending the lead to 3-1 Red Sox, erasing Jordan Walker’s solo shot.
With Svanson still out there in the 9th, Boston got another hit, loading the bases. Caleb Durbin nailed some nails into the coffin with yet another hit off of Svanson, this time two more making it 5-1. The wheels had come off. The victor was even insured against us.
The wheels not only fell off the vehicle, the vehicle flew off a cliff in the 9th inning. 6 straight singles by Boston. 7-1 Red Sox. Newcomer Jared Shuster was brought into the game, and put out the fire before any additional damages accrued.
The Cardinals did put a couple of runners on base in the 9th inning, but it didn’t amount to anything. Big bullpen loss and a quiet Cardinals offense tonight. 7-1 Red Sox.
- Red Sox outhit the Cardinals 10-5
- Player of the Game: Ranger Suarez shutting it down and with the most WPA (*win probability added)
- Matt Svanson ERA over 15.5 now
- Kyle Leahy looked ok tonight but gave up 3 hits and 3 walks in 4 innings, somehow… he was really good over the first two innings. Maybe he’s just a really good bullpen guy.
- Willson Contreras was the most opportunistic hitter tonight, going 2 for 4 with 3 RBI against his prior team
