Cardinals lose in extras
Top 1
Andre Pallante did well to retire dangerous hitters Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. on groundouts, as is his way… But then gave up back to back singles to Addison Barger and Alejandro Kirk. George Springer then hit a double! Which scored Barger.
1-0 Blue Jays
Bottom 1
Nootbaar and Winn quickly retired by Berrios. Donovan too! Went too fast just like the weekend.
Top 2
Andre Pallante back at it. .208 batting average Schneider was up. Herrera was catching. Groundout to short. Ernie Clement doubled! 1 out. Pallante doesn’t look too good today. DOOM.
Groundout to Donovan, Jonathan Clase retired. Pallante fooled Bo Bichette with an inside strike. Man on third. Two strikes against Bo. But Bichette prevailed with a RBI single.
2-0 Blue Jays
Bottom 2
Berrios looked tough to hit today. Contreras had a say in this. But Barrio’s earpiece communicator device malfunctioning was even more disruptive. He threw way outside the zone, seeming confused. Again he missed the zone, breathing heavily, visibly put off by the lack of proper communication.
Another ball. 3-1. Contreras swung so hard he sat down. Swung himself onto the ground! 3-2. Took another time out at an opportune moment, throwing off Berrios even more. Willson Contreras owned that at bat and walked. Herrera up. Berrios got it together quick and popped up Ivan in the infield, first pitch. 1 out. Arenado ground into double play, erasing Willson’s steely willed effort.
Top 3
Pallante on the mound. I’m not sure if he knew where the ball was going, pitching around the zone to avoid bats, or just no control? Probably not getting a grip. He even looked a little tired tonight. Sun was still shining bright in St Louis, but not in the park.
Eventually Pallante struck out Addison Barger. He accidentally hit Kirk’s bat with a pitch, and it was 2-2. Alejandro Kirk seemed like a pretty dang good hitter tonight, and hit a double that was outside the zone into the left field corner. Springer reached first on a catcher interference call. It was not looking good.
The fates or “gods of baseball” however had mercy in store for Andre, and he was able to strike out Gimenez, and then Schneider grounded out to shortstop. Still 2-0 Blue Jays.
Bottom 3
Berrios has a no hitter going for two innings, but Nolan Gorman disrupted his no-no bid in the third inning, with a single. Nolan 2 doing well lately! However, Burleson before him and Scott II and Nootbaar after him… Could not get on base.
Top 4
Pallante finally went full ground out machine this inning and retired the side 1-2-3.
Bottom 4
Berrios cruised through the Cardinals lineup, until Contreras was up. He again walked Contreras! This time nibbling around the strike zone. Herrera was up with a man on first. He worked the count to 3-1. He got a hit! It was just a single, but Contreras with a head’s up play saw the outfielder bobble the ball and raced to third, narrowly beating out the throw. It was first and third for Arenado. Two out.
But Arenado hit a line drive right at the shortstop, who probably got a stinged hand from an angry baseball.
The 5th and 6th innings were uneventful.
Top 7
Riley O’Brien scoreless inning!
Bottom 7
Burleson two out double! Rally starter? A Berrios night ender at least. Alec heatin’ up for his midseason surge. Berrios gave up only 4 hits, 2 walks, and no runs. It was still 2-0. But the Blue Jays bullpen kept the Cardinals scoreless.
Top 8
Riley O’Brien again. Throwing 96 with downward movement. Then 98 high heat, looking nasty with a little pop. Count was 2-2. Then he missed the zone, 3-2. Then then the unthinkable occurred: Victor Scott II on an attempt to rob a home run, created a home run by tapping the ball over the fence. To me it looked like it would have hit off the top of the wall. Kirk was a Cardinal killer tonight.
O’Brien then faced Gimenez down by three. Gimenez got his first hit of the night. He hung a slider in the middle of the zone. Man on first, one out. Lukes (Lucas?) was up. Lukes hit into a double play, luckily.
Bottom 8
Victor Scott II took it to a full count and then walked to start the inning. Nootbaar was 0-3. He also worked a full count. Then Nootbaar tried to do too much and swang super hard and whiffed. Winn was up vs Little. He got a hit! Then Donovan, our resident raker, was struck out on a pitch out of the strike zone and in the dirt.
With two outs, Willson Contreras finally put the Redbirds on the board with a timely hit. Herrera was up again, runners on first and third… And then hit a 3 run homer!!! 4-3 Cardinals! He got an ovation from the audience. It was ripped down the left field line, not far from being foul.
Top 9
Ryan Helsley was in for the save. He retired one batter, and then gave up a game tying home run. There were two outs. He threw a 101 mph fastball. Then Guerrero Jr hit a double! A rare miscue by Arenado. Helsley has been both unlucky and not quite as dominant as last season, to say the least. Visit to the mound, he was a little wild.
Helsley was able to keep the game tied.
Bottom 9
Cardinals offense was zero. Zilch. Nada.
Top 10
Phil Maton relieved Ryan Helsley. Right away Kirk killed the Cardinals again with another double. 5-4 Bluebirds because of the abominal “ghost runner”. No thanks, Manfred.
The bases were loaded. Maton got the double play! Cardinals down 5-4.
Bottom 10
Victor Scott II was the “automatic runner”. I guess that’s what they’re calling it now. Nootbaar just seems “off” right now. Struck out. Blue Jays had Hoffman in. Donovan was up, after Winn moved the runner over to third. 2 outs. Donovan flew out to center. Cardinals lose!
How anticlimactic is that?
It didn’t feel like it at the time, but Andre Pallante had a decent outing. While he gave up 7 hits, he went 6 innings and only allowed 2 runs while walking only one batter. That seems almost shocking but that’s what happened. Good job Pallante!
Our high upside bullpen arms both gave up home runs tonight, O’Brien and Helsley. Helsley isn’t inspiring confidence this year, but he hasn’t been that bad either. Still, it really does feel like he blew it tonight.
Nootbaar and Donovan combined to go 1-10 tonight which was just as much the problem as Helsley and O’Brien. Noot, Donovan, Arenado, Burleson, and Scott were 2-22. We probably deserved to lose this one, folks.