photo: Ryan Loutos (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
The St. Louis Cardinals system was 0-1 on Sunday. The Cardinal Nation’s Player of the Day, reliever Ryan Loutos, threw two perfect innings in Memphis’ 6-2 home loss. After hitting five home runs on Saturday, the offense was held to just three singles, two from Matt Koperniak.
Results for the game played on Sunday, March 31.
On Easter Sunday, the Memphis Redbirds (2-1) fell to the Charlotte Knights (CWS) by a 6-2 score in the final game of the season-opening series at AutoZone Park.
The Redbirds trailed from the start. After a sacrifice fly gave the Knights the lead, a fielding error by second baseman Nick Dunn allowed two more runs to cross the plate in the top of the first.
Memphis closed the deficit to one in the fifth. Nick Raposo walked, Dunn singled, and Arquímedes Gamboa drew a free pass to load the bases. Mike Antico hit into a fielder’s choice at second, retiring Gamboa and scoring Raposo. After Antico swiped second, his third steal of the young season, José Fermín grounded out to the shortstop, plating Dunn. That made it 3-2 for the visitors.
The Redbirds allowed two more runs in the eighth and one in the ninth while not getting a hit in the last three innings to lose the game 6-2. As the Indians pulled away late, reliever Nick Robertson was charged with two runs, one earned due to an errant throw by Fermin from third base, with the final score allowed by Connor Thomas.
Starter Gordon Graceffo took the tough loss, pitching five innings and allowing three runs, one earned, on six hits while striking out six. In relief, Ryan Loutos pitched two perfect innings, allowing no runs and no hits while striking out two.
The Redbirds’ offense drew eight walks but struck out eight times. After they hit five home runs on Saturday, Memphis managed just three hits, all singles, one from Dunn and two from Matt Koperniak. The Redbirds went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, stranding eight runners on base.
Fermín and Antico drove in one run each. It was Fermin’s seventh RBI in the three-game set. After batting at the bottom of the card in Games 1-2, Fermin was promoted to the second spot on Sunday as Thomas Saggese was given the day off.
The Redbirds are off Monday.
Tuesday’s game: at Indianapolis Indians (PIT), TBA vs. TBA, 5:35 CT.
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Ben Kinealy can be reached at bkinealy@mail.bradley.edu.
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