Unfortunately, the Cardinals couldn’t pull off a sweep. After two exciting wins to open the series, the offense fell flat against the defending World Series champion Dodgers. Michael McGreevy got the start against Clayton Kershaw, and while the Cardinals have had Kershaw’s number in the past and McGreevy has been solid every time out, the opposite happened today.
St. Louis couldn’t solve Kershaw and McGreevy took his first career loss. Masyn Winn, Alec Burleson and Willson Contreras each drove in a run for St. Louis, while Tommy Edman had three RBI and two hits, Hyeseong Kim drove in a pair with a triple, and Mookie Betts hit a solo home run.
Let’s discuss this one.
Kershaw conquers old nemesis
As we know, Kershaw is in the twilight of his career and has had many great moments over the years, even against the Cardinals. But fans remember him best from when the Cardinals had his number in the 2013 and 2014 postseasons.
The veteran left-hander was in no mood for sentiment. He recorded seven strikeouts and allowed just one Cardinal run over five innings. That run came on a Masyn Winn RBI double.
All jokes aside about how the Cardinals have manhandled him in the playoffs, this might prove to be Kershaw’s last start at Busch Stadium, and while he was never a Cardinal, it’s important to remember just how dominant he was for so long and how fortunate we are to have been able to witness it.
McGreevy struggles, but doesn’t waver
Michael McGreevy finally made his first start of the 2025 season, and we can only hope that more are to come. I would imagine that with the six-man rotation, they will stick with him for a while
Unfortunately, he struggled a bit today, allowing four runs. The inning that killed him was the second, when the Dodgers put up three runs. He allowed another run in the fourth.
But I actually have to give him credit. The Cardinals had a thin bullpen after Erick Fedde barely pitched into the sixth yesterday. They needed a starter to give them some length, and McGreevy was able to do that.
While four runs isn’t great, it certainly could’ve been a lot worse, and I would even say that while McGreevy didn’t have a great outing by any stretch, it was far from a clunker, and he did ultimately pitch a good game.
For that to be his first loss shows just how good he is, has been and can be going forward, so I’m looking forward to seeing him get back out there for his next start.
The Cardinals remain four games back of first in the NL Central at 36-29. They’ll begin a big series with the Blue Jays starting tomorrow, but they have a little momentum, having taken a series from the Dodgers.