The St. Louis Cardinals returned to Busch Stadium after a disappointing road trip that saw the team go 1-5 with a mix of blowout losses and wins they let slip by late. The Cardinals had an off day Thursday to rest and make a bullpen bolstering move in optioning struggling righty Chris Roycroft and calling up Roddery Munoz.
The rest seemed to do the Cardinals’ pitching well as Andre Pallante impressed with a seven inning shutout in game one. Game two saw a franchise record-tying performance and not in a good way, hitting into five double plays in the eventual loss. In the rubber match, Matthew Liberatore kept grinding in the rotation and led the staff to another shutout to take the series. In a hopefully positive trend, the attendance for the series averaged around 31,000 fans.
GAME ONE (W 2-0)
The first inning of the series saw plenty of action but no scoring as both pitchers had to work out of jams with runners in scoring position to keep the game scoreless. Cardinals starter Andre Pallante (2-0) got a lineout with runners on second and third with two outs and Phillies counterpart Aaron Nola (0-3) left Lars Nootbaar stranded at third when he got a harmless popout to end the inning.
The second inning, though, is where things started to get a little crazy for the Cardinals. Coming back from the commercial break, fans had to check twice when they saw backup-turned-starting catcher Pedro Pages playing second base. Replays showed shortstop Masyn Winn grimacing in pain and trying to keep his body loose in the infield and, with Brendan Donovan starting as the team’s designated hitter that day, the team was left again without a true backup shortstop. So, Thomas Saggese moved from second to short and Yohel Pozo grabbed his gear to handle the pitchers for the rest of the game. As baseball does, Pages got his first test on a soft grounder with two outs, which he handled with no problem.
Nola has had plenty of prior success against the Cardinals and kept them scoreless despite putting runners in scoring position in each of the first four innings. Nootbaar did his best to create RBI opportunities, drawing two walks and stealing his first two bases of the year in his first two plate appearances but the Cardinals went 0-for-7 when they had the chance to drive in a run until the fifth.
Thomas Saggese singled to start the inning and was driven in for the first run of the game when Yohel Pozo smashed a 100mph line drive double to left. Pozo game home after Alec Burleson drew a bases loaded walk to put the Cardinals up 2-0 after five innings.
Not much happened the rest of the way as Pallante kept dealing and retired the Phillies batters in order in the sixth and seventh before handing the ball to the bullpen. Phil Maton was called on for the eighth and continued his dominant season with a 1-2-3 inning. The Cardinals had a chance for an insurance run in the bottom of the inning but Nootbaar hit into an inning-ending double play.
Ryan Helsley was called upon to seal the win and the ninth got off to an ominous start as he allowed Trea Turner to reach with a single. That is as far as Turner would get, though, and Helsley got two ground outs and fly out to end the two hour and 17 minute game with a 2-0 Cardinal victory.
GAME TWO (W 4-1)
The word “double” could be used plenty in this game and not in a positive way for the Cardinals. The game started in a tough way after Jordan Walker made a great diving play to start the game and Turner flew out to center, setting up starter Miles Mikolas (0-2) for a quick inning. A terribly missed strike three call two batters later, though, extended the inning and put two runners on for the dangerous Nick Castellanos. His first double of the day drove in both runners and put the Cardinals in an early 2-0 hole.
The Cardinals offense did their best to chip away against Phillies starter Christopher Sanchez (1-0) and had plenty of traffic on the bases early in innings. However, in four of the first five innings, St. Louis hit into four double plays to end any threat they had, allowing Sanchez to work into a groove while keeping his pitch count down. Philadelphia would push across another run in the fourth with a double, but the Cardinals finally broke through for a run in the sixth. Luken Baker hit a double of his own and was driven in by Willson Contreras, who has started showing signs of breaking out of his horrid start of the season.
The Phillies would add one more run to make the score 4-1 going into the late innings and they were unable to get another late rally going against a tough Philly bullpen. The Cardinals had 11 baserunners in the game but hit into five double plays and went 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
GAME THREE (W 7-0)
In the rubber match, the Cardinals had to face righty Zack Wheeler (1-1), who has had plenty of success against St. Louis in his career. The Cardinals countered with Matthew Liberatore (1-1), who looked to build off his solid start to the year in the rotation and the lefty delivered.
Colleague Andy Heckroth wrote a great game recap that highlighted Libby’s big start along with some great offensive performances from Willson Contreras and Jordan Walker.
With the series win, the Cardinals move to 7-8 on the year and the Phillies drop to 9-6. Next up, St. Louis will host the Houston Astros for the final three games of the homestand.
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