Cardinals Recap: John Lackey leads St. Louis to 4-3 win

facebooktwitterreddit

33. 3. 7. Final. 4

In a make-up game Thursday, the St. Louis Cardinals edged the American League Central-leading Kansas City Royals by a 4-3 final at Busch Stadium.


Kansas City (57-37) made things interesting in the top of the ninth when Omar Infante scored Alex Rios on an RBI triple to right field with nobody out in the frame.

After Dusty Coleman struck out swinging, Alcides Escobar reached on a fielder’s choice – a ground ball to third baseman Matt Carpenter, who cut down Infante at the plate for the second out of the inning, preserving the Cardinals’ slim one-run lead.

Escobar advanced to second on defensive indifference, but St. Louis closer Trevor Rosenthal retired the ever-dangerous Mike Moustakas on a 4-3 groundout to end the game and give the Redbirds a big win at home.

The Royals opened the scoring early on, plating a pair of runs in the top of the first against Lackey – one coming on a Salavador Perez knock, and the other via a single by Rios.

However, after the initial frame, Lackey settled into a nice groove, in all, turning in seven innings of two-run ball, scattering six hits and striking out five. From there, Randy Choate, Seth Maness and Rosenthal took care of business, with the latter earning his 30th save of the season.

More from Redbird Rants

St. Louis (61-34) tied things up in the second when outfielder Randal Grichuk popped his tenth homer of the year, a two-run shot off right-hander Chris Young.

Carpenter got in on the fun in the third, clubbing a two-run blast of his own to put the Cardinals ahead 4-2, which is where the score remained until Kansas City’s ninth-inning tally.

What’s Next:

The Cardinals will open a set against the Atlanta Braves at home on Friday night.

Left-hander Manny Banuelos (1-1, 1.08) will start for the Braves and will be opposed by St. Louis southpaw Tim Cooney (0-0, 3.33), who is still searching for his first win of the season.

First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. CT

Next: ICYMI: The Cardinals should trade for Cishek soon