photo: Matt Carpenter via Zoom (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
St. Louis 9 at Chicago 3 (7 innings) (Game 1)
Matt Carpenter’s second career grand slam catapulted the St. Louis Cardinals to a 9-3 rout of the Chicago Cubs in Game 1 of Wednesday’s doubleheader at Wrigley Field.
Carpenter’s first-inning bomb came plated Kolten Wong (hit-by-pitch), Tommy Edman (single) and Paul Goldschmidt (walk) and was one of the team’s 11 hits. The blast raised Carpenter’s career average in bases-loaded situations to .500, 28-for-56, but it was his only hit in four at bats.
Edman singled three times in four at bats, touching home twice and knocking in two. Wong reached base all four times he came to the plate, with a single. a walk, a double and hit-by-pitch while scoring four times. Goldschmidt was on base three times, singling one in two at bats with two free passes, a run scored and two driven in.
The final player with more than one hit was Brad Miller, who singled and doubled in three at bats. The third baseman added a base-on-balls and two RBI.
It took five Cardinals pitchers to cover the seven frames but those five held the Cubs to just two hits. Pitching for the first time since Opening Day on July 24th, Jack Flaherty lasted just 1 2/3 innings before exhausting his pitch allotment. Flaherty surrendered a lead-off bomb and issued two free passes but threw first-pitch strikes to nine batters faced. He departed after plunking a batter on his 41st pitch.
Fresh off the injured list, Austin Gomber recorded four outs but struggled to get ahead in the count, resulting in two bases-on-balls. Tyler Webb (W, 1-1) and John Gant both retired all four batters faced with two strikeouts apiece. But Ricardo Sanchez was tagged for a two-run long ball in the ninth after issuing the staff’s eighth free pass.
Chicago 4 ‘at’ St. Louis 2 (7 innings) (Game 2)
St. Louis (6-7) rallied for a late tie but could not get over the hump in their 4-2 ‘home’ loss to Chicago (16-8). The contest made up an August 8th game at Busch Stadium postponed by the Coronavirus pandemic.
Behind 2-0 at the fifth’s midpoint, the ‘home’ team pushed across their first tally without benefit of a hit. Tyler O’Neill reached via a two-base throwing error to lead off, advanced to third on a ground out and scored on Andrew Knizner’s sac fly to center.
The Cardinals tied it up a two all the next inning. Dylan Carlson and Goldschmidt worked back-to-back walks, bringing Miller to the plate. His two-out single plated Carlson, evening the contest up.
The tie was short-lived, however, after Andrew Miller (L, 0-1) yielded two runs on three hits against just one batter retired. Giovanny Gallegos recorded the last two outs.
A bright spot in the loss was the solid performance of St. Louis’ starter, Johan Oviedo, in his Major League debut. The righty went five innings with the opposition breaking through against him in only one frame. Oviedo was touched for a two-run second on one of his two hits and both free passes issued during his time on the bump. Genesis Cabrera faced the minimum in the sixth.
The 6-7 Cardinals completed their 4-4 road trip with a 2-3 series deficit at Wrigley. Next up is a 12-game homestand in 11 days against four different opponents, starting with the Reds.
Thursday’s game: vs. Cincinnati (10-12), 7:15 pm CDT, Adam Wainwright (2-0, 1.64) vs. Sonny Gray (4-1, 2.05) FOX Sports Midwest // KMOX
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