photo: Seth Elledge (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
Four MLB debuts increased the weekend total to seven, but one stumbled as the St. Louis Cardinals lost the Sunday finale, but still took the weekend series over the White Sox in Chicago.
Sunday, August 16, 2020 – St. Louis 2 at Chicago White Sox 7
St. Louis failed to quash the White Sox (11-11) on Sunday as the Cardinals fell to Chicago, 7-2, in the series finale, a contest featuring no less than four Major League debuts by the visitors. Thanks to their Saturdayt doubleheader sweep, St. Louis (4-4) claimed the series at Guaranteed Rate Field, two games to one.
With 11 players from the team’s Opening Day roster currently sidelined on the Injury List and three other pitchers out for the season, the Cardinals turned to their minor league depth for replacements with mixed results. After outfielder Dylan Carlson, second baseman Max Schrock and hurler Jake Woodford participated in their first Major League contest during Saturday’s double-header, Sunday’s game featured four more first-timers: first baseman John Nogowski plus relievers Seth Elledge, Rob Kaminsky and Roel Ramirez.
The battle began with Dakota Hudson on the mound for St. Louis. It took Hudson (L, 0-2) 23 pitches to navigate the first but just 32 more pitches to complete the following three frames. After the game, Hudson said it took a while to get his breaking stuff going. The righty yielded a first-inning tally on two hits and a walk before retiring his last 10 batters. With Hudson’s target for the day having been 60 pitches, he was replaced after the fourth.
The Cardinals’ slim 1-0 deficit mushroomed to a 7-0 crater after Ramirez took the mound in the fifth. With two outs, the Texas native surrendered four consecutive long balls accounting for six runs on six hits.
Elledge’s maiden Major League effort was as impressive as Ramirez’ was dismal. The 24-year-old right-hander retired all seven batters faced, five of them via the K. Elledge threw 17 of his 25 pitches for strikes.
The eighth’s pitching duties belonged to Kaminsky, who claimed one of the day’s best stories. St. Louis originally drafted the southpaw out of high school in the first round of the June 2013 First-Year Player Draft.
However, Kaminsky exited the organization in July 2015 in a trade with Cleveland for Brandon Moss only to see his career hampered by multiple trips to the Injury List with shoulder problems. During the past off-season the Cardinals signed him to a minor league contract and his long journey to the Show finally ended on Sunday. Kaminsky’s 1-2-3 frame included a strikeout looking sandwiched between two groundball outs.
Another rookie with a long trip to his first Major League game was Nogowski, whom St Louis acquired from an independent league team in 2017. The 27-year-old veteran of over 17, 700 minor league at bats singled once in four plate appearances in his first taste of the bigs.
https://thecardinalnation.com/player/john-hogowski/
Nogowski’s hit was one of six for the squad on Sunday, but the biggest belonged to third baseman Matt Carpenter. Carpenter rapped a line drive single to right with the sacks jammed in the sixth, bringing across Tommy Edman (force) and Paul Goldschmidt (fielder’s choice), ending Chicago’s shutout bid in the process.
Monday’s games: doubleheader at Chicago Cubs (13-6). Game 1 – 4:15 pm CT, Kwang Hyun Kim (0-0, 9.00) vs. Kyle Hendricks (3-1, 3.08). Game 2 (makeup of August 7th contest) 30 minutes after Game 1, Bullpen vs. TBA FOX Sports Midwest // KMOX
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