Cardinals finish against Tiger with a series, game win/loss
Game Result
The Detroit Tigers assert why they have the best record in baseball, taking the game 5-1 and taking 2 of 3 in the series with the Cardinals. A streak (look it up!) of Tiger relievers shuts down what has been a good Cardinal offense to-date. It could be called an “ambush” of Tigers, too (look it up!) but I know how some people get triggered by that word. Riley Greene of the TIgers manages to score 3 of the Tiger runs. The Cardinals had no answer for him this series.
Pre-game Notes
- Tink Hence begins the road back with a rehab start at Palm Beach.
- Fun game last night. This edition of the Cardinals team seems more resilient than recent versions. After getting down, they managed to come back against a really good pitcher. Some of these game against the Mets, Phillies and now Tigers have taken on the aura of playoff games … taut, back and forth, decided by one little misplay, moment of luck, whatever. The best form of baseball, in my book.
Line-up (and roster) Machinations
- Hurter for the Tigers (he is an opener, not a starter). A lefty. Pallante for the Cardinals.
- The bullpen should be in good shape. Matz will be down today and I expect they will want to avoid Leahy, who is showing signs of overwork/overexposure, but that leaves them 5 guys, most of whom could probably use the work, if Oli wants to get aggressive with his bullpen again. That’s a nice feature to have.
- Oli leans left with his line-up configuration, in spite of the lefty starting. While Nootbaar gets a day off, Donovan in LF, Gorman at 2b, Burleson at 1b and Scott in CF edges the line-up left. This reflects the Tigers using one of their three lefties to open, plus another was used last night.
- Herrera at C today. I’ve wondered about this pairing. Pallante is not the greatest at holding runners on, Herrera not the greatest thrower. Do the Tigers have the skill set to exploit this advantage, I wonder?
- The Tigers use a true opener again today. They do not have tomorrow off and had to re-juggle their rotation to account for two recent injuries in their rotation. They used this series to do it. They bumped Flaherty to tomorrow to pitch against division foe Cleveland. To my mind, they essentially conceded that if they took this series, it would not be with their best, and they’ve kept the long view in mind. They’ll take the win if they get it, but other considerations appeared more crucial to them. Good teams win these games with depth.
- Contreras at DH. Note the Gorman sighting today. He begins to take on the look of a guy whose days in St. Louis are drawing to a close. They wanted runway for him, but circumstances have appeared to cancel his take-off clearance.
The Game
An inning-by-inning breakdown, with score card entries and observations along the way.
T1 – Pallante starts out with 2 K’s. Then a 6-3 makes a good start.
B1 – Winn bats leadoff and K’s. Donovan and Contreras fly to left.
T2 – Two consecutive singles and a SacFly plate a run for the Tigers. The Cards turn the SacFly into a DP by getting the trail runner at second. Not sure what happened there with that runner, but they’ll take the out. F9 ends the inning. Tigers up 1-0.
B2 – Herrera walks. Burly with a bunt single. Arenado flies out. Gorman lines out to left. Walker grounds out ending the threat.
T3 – L9. K. L6. Makes another quick inning for AP.
B3 – Scott 4-3. Winn L7. Donovan K. This lefty Hurter has been tough on this line-up.
T4 – 6-3, then 3u. A 2-out walk. I hate walks! Followed, naturally, by a double that scores the run. Walker went a long way back to the wall where ball, wall and he came together, and he ended up whiffing after lunging for the ball. Bet he’d say he should have caught that. Ruled a double and RBI. L8. Ends the inning. Tigers now up 2-0.
B4 – Lee in for Hurter. Contreras HBP. Herrera K’s. Burleson GIDP.
T5 – Single. Another walk. F8. 3u. F9. No more damage. Still 2-0. The F8 included an unusual bone-headed play from the young CF. He didn’t get behind the fly ball, which signaled the runners to tag and move up. Scott compounded that error by throwing to third in a hopeless cause, allowing the trail runner to advance to second, removing the GIDP situation. He further compounded the error by missing the cut-off man. Ultimately, no real damage, but hopefully a lesson learned.
B5 – Arenado pops out. Gorman 4-3. Walker K.
T6 – 4-3 starts the inning, but Pallante complicates with 2 more walks. Quite a bit of pick-and-nibble the last 3 innings. F7 on a hard hit ball ends Pallante’s day. Maton in. Single for an RBI. Lead run scores, trail run out at the plate after a bit of a throw-around after the hitter strayed too far from first. This play included yet another missed cut-off man, but led to an out. Tigers now up 3-0. AP’s day done 5.2 IP, 3 R, 4 BB, 3 K. We saw him hit 97 multiple times today, but command was an issue.
B6 – Guenther in for Lee. Scott leads off with a hit. Winn K’s again. Donovan F9. Scott advances to second on the ball hit to the wall. Hanifee in for Guenther as the Tigers continue to unload their bullpen. Turns out they can do that, too. Contreras with an RBI single, breaking the glass. Herrera out 5-3. Tigers now up 3-1.
T7 – Maton stays in. Backwards K. HBP. I haven’t paid much attention to Maton’s Statcast details recently, but his velo is down at least 2 ticks from earlier in the season. He was 92ish, now 89-90. Now a walk. Now a K. Romero in for Maton. He hits his first batter, but K’s the second. Still 3-1.
B7 – Holton in for Hanifee. Burleson singles. Arenado K’s. Gorman singles. Walker K’s. A wild pitch puts two runs in scoring position. Pozo pops out as he pinch-hit for Scott.
T8 – Roycroft in for Romero. In a repeating theme, he quickly finds himself in hot water. A walk followed by a double. A hard-hit grounder to SS gets the out and no run scores. King in for Roycroft. A SacFly nets another run (third walk to score today). An RBI single closes the book on Roycroft. .1 IP, 2 R. A PB by Herrera pushes a runner up. 3-1 finishes the inning. Tigers now up 5-1. Feels like a mountain, but the Tigers are running a fine edge with their bullpen. They’ve used 6 relievers thus far, and they still have at least 6 outs to get.
B8 – Brieske in for Holton. Winn out 6-3. Donovan out 6-3. Contreras K’s.
T9 – King remains in. P6. 1-3. K.
B9 – Herrera F8. Burleson K. Arenado pops out. Tigers win 5-1.
Post-game Notes
- An afternoon game today, followed by a full day off tomorrow makes a nice break.
- First game in a long time where it seemed like the offensive game plan wasn’t cohesive, especially with the lefty opener.
- Lots of self-inflicted stress by the pitchers today. 2 HBP, 6 BB is too much. The chase side of this bullpen is … not very good. They’ve papered over that the last few weeks by having lots of leads and lots of IP by the starters. But it is still there. I’d anticipate that Roycroft gets swapped out before the AZ series, although I can’t quite pinpoint who deserves a promotion. They have an open 40-man spot and Granillo might be Memphis’ best reliever right now. Just a thought…trying to think along with the braintrust.
- The Cardinals stay in town and await the Arizona Diamondbacks into town Friday night.
- Pirates RHP Jones out with elbow surgery. Their one strength (starters) is weakened. The NL Central could field a 95-100 loss team this year, to match the NL West (Rox) and NL East (Marlins).
- I’m starting to craft a wide-angle look at the first 1⁄3 of the season. The 54-game mark arrives this coming Monday. Fangraphs had a dek on an article yesterday that sized it up … “It’s no longer April, so those hot and cold starts are no longer insignificant”. For me, it’s pretty much no longer April AND May, and trends have emerged.