Daily Rant: Cardinals drop first in three game set with Indians

The St Louis Cardinals took on the Cleveland Indians in the first of a three game set last night and lost thanks to a solid outing by Indians pitcher Josh Tomlin. The Cardinals got a good amount of hits, but couldn’t drive runners in. Who excelled for the team? Find out after the jump.

Box Score

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

	Cleveland	2	0	0	1	1	0	2	0	0	6	11	0

	St. Louis	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	10	3


WP: J. Tomlin (3-3) LP: J. Westbrook (4-6)

	AB	R	H	RBI	HR	BB	K	SB	LOB	Season Avg
R. Furcal ss	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	.312
C. Beltran rf	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.275
M. Holliday lf	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	.276
A. Craig 1b	3	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	.380
D. Freese 3b	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	.265
Y. Molina c	4	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.337
D. Descalso 2b	4	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	3	.226
S. Robinson cf	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.275
J. Westbrook p	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.174
M. Cleto p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
M. Adams ph	1	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	.286
F. Salas p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
S. Freeman p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
T. Greene ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.208
Totals	36	2	10	2	0	1	5	0	12

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	WHIP	Season ERA
J. Westbrook (L, 4-6)	6.0	8	4	3	1	7	0	1.44	4.25
M. Cleto	1.0	3	2	2	0	0	1	2.00	5.40
F. Salas	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.87	5.60
S. Freeman	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1.15	4.15

The Positives

Carlos Beltran, Matt Holliday, Allen Craig, Daniel Descalso, and Shane Robinson picked up hits for the Cardinals. Unfortunately, only Descalso was able to drive a run in.
Yadier Molina did his part with a three hit effort. He drove in the the other Cardinal run and his his fourteenth double of the season.
Jake Westbrook picked up the loss, but hurled a quality start, lasting six innings and giving up three earned runs.
Fernando Salas and Sam Freeman combined for two innings of shutout baseball.

Justin Jeers

Rafael Furcal went hitless and committed his seventh error on the season.
Allen Craig and Daniel Descalso also committed fielding errors.
Furcal, David Freese, and Daniel Descalso all left three runners on. In total, the Cardinals stranded twelve base runners.
While Westbrook tossed a quality start, he still allowed nine base runners. It’s a wonder only three scored.
Mikael Cleto gave up three hits in his inning of work, including a home run that essentially put the game out of reach.

Three Stars

3) Fernando Salas/Sam Freeman – The relievers combined for two innings of shutout baseball.

2) Matt Adams – His pinch hit single in the seventh inning drove in the Cardinals only two runs.

1) Yadier Molina – A three hit night was essentially wasted by the surrounding bats in the Cardinals lineup.

Standings

Cent		W	L	GB	SRS
CIN	F	32	25	—	0.1
PIT	F	30	27	2.0	-0.5
STL	F	30	29	3.0	0.5
MIL	F	27	31	5.5	-0.8
HOU	F	25	33	7.5	-0.5
CHC	F	19	39	13.5	-1.1

Today’s Game

The Indians have now won thirteen of the last eighteen meetings with the Cardinals since 1997. The Cardinals hope to end this run tonight by sending out 5-1 Kyle Lohse to take on 2-5 Justin Masterson. Masterson has a 5.09 ERA to Lohse’s 3.21 mark. Game time is set for 6:15

Schedule