Daily Rant: Beltran powers Cardinals past Indians

The Cardinals faced a pitcher at the top of his game yesterday in Justin Masterson. Masterson was masterful through seven innings, only allowing one earned run on five hits. If not for a Carlos Beltran home run, this one could have possibly gone to extra innings.

Box Score

	Final		1		2		3		4		5		6	7	8	9	R	H	E

	Cleveland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0

	St. Louis	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	X	2	7	1


WP: K. Lohse (6-1) S: J. Motte (11) LP: J. Masterson (2-6)

	AB	R	H	RBI	HR	BB	K	SB	LOB	Season Avg
R. Furcal ss	3	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	1	.308
C. Beltran rf	4	1	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	.284
Y. Molina c	3	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	.337
A. Craig lf	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	.361
M. Adams 1b	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.271
D. Freese 3b	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.261
D. Descalso 2b	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	.229
S. Robinson cf	3	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	.277
K. Lohse p	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	.083
M. Rzepczynski p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
A. Chambers ph	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250
J. Motte p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	28	2	7	2	1	1	6	0	6

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	WHIP	Season ERA
K. Lohse (W, 6-1)	7.2	3	0	0	2	4	0	1.09	2.90
M. Rzepczynski (H, 7)	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.20	4.98
J. Motte (S, 11)	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.94	2.81

The Positives

Carlos Beltran was the star of the show for the Cardinals. He had three hits including the game-winning solo home run. He also hit his seventh double of the season
Yadier Molina, Daniel Descalso, and Shane Robinson each pitched in with a hit a piece. Robinson scored after hitting a double and being sacrificed to third by a pinch-hitting Adron Chambers and then sacrificed in by Rafael Furcal.
Kyle Lohse finally picked up a decision, as he went seven and two thirds of shutout baseball. He only gave up three hits and two walks.
Jason Motte pitched a perfect ninth inning to pick up his eleventh save of the season.

Justin’s Jeers

Even though the Cardinals won, the offense was fairly stagnant. They only had seven hits and stranded six base runners.
Furcal, Allen Craig, Matt(not Mike, as the announcers kept calling him) Adams, and David Freese were all held hitless. Craig personally left four runners stranded.

Three Stars

3) Jason Motte – Motte was perfect in the ninth inning, as he shut down the Indians to pick up the save.

2) Kyle Lohse – Without Lohse’s solid pitching, the Cardinals lack of offense comes back to haunt them.

1) Carlos Beltran – Beltran’s solo shot stood as the game-winning run.

Standings

Cent		W	L	GB	SRS
CIN	F	32	26	—	0.0
PIT	F	31	27	1.0	-0.5
STL	F	31	29	2.0	0.4
MIL	F	27	32	5.5	-0.9
HOU	F	25	34	7.5	-0.7
CHC	F	19	40	13.5	-1.3

Today’s Game

With the series split at one game a piece, the Indians send out their ace Ubaldo Jimenez to pick up the series win. He is 6-4 with a 5.31 ERA. The Cardinals will have rookie Joe Kelly making his first career major league start. Kelly has looked spectacular at AAA. He doesn’t strike out a ton of hitters, but he has a vicious sinker that induces a lot of ground balls. Game time is set for 1:15.

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