St. Louis Cardinals close June with loss

It was a down ending to the month of June for the St. Louis Cardinals, but no one is complaining in the end.

The Cardinal fans were treated to a little bonus baseball at Busch Stadium, only to have the Chicago White Sox eke out the winning run in extras and close the month with a 2-1, 11-inning victory.

St. Louis opens July with a 51-25 overall record, and the team has an 8 1/2 game lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates and a 10 1/2 game lead over the Chicago Cubs.

The Cardinals were stymied to start the game when White Sox pitcher Chris Sale began firing bullets. Sale struck out 10 or more batters for his eighth straight start but did not factor in the decision in the end.

It is a crime the White Sox can’t hit for either Sale or Jeff Samardzija, and if either player leaves via trade or free agency the White Sox will have no one to blame but themselves.

St. Louis put its run on the board in the fourth inning when Randal Grichuk homered. This tied the score at 1-1 after the White Sox plated a run in the third on an RBI single by Jose Abreu.

In the top of the 11th inning, White Sox catcher Tyler Flowers belted a solo blast.

Earlier I said the White Sox didn’t give any run support to Sale, but Lance Lynn had absolutely nothing to work with either. Lynn struck out six in six innings of work, but the Cardinals mustered just eight hits off Sale. That’s not going to give you much to work with, but both teams tried.

Up next

The teams conclude a short two-game series on Wednesday with Jose Quintana going up against John Lackey in the finale.