Daily Rant: Cardinals drop game in extra innings

The Cardinals put in two games worth of work on Sunday as they took the Pirates to the nineteenth inning but couldn’t get the job done. Mike Matheny has been questioned for some of the calls he made, but at the end of the day the bats weren’t there when it counted.

Box Score

The Positives

• Jon Jay picked up three singles but no one could drive him in.
• Allen Craig hit two singles and scored a run.
• Carlos Beltran hit a single and his 22nd double. He drove in two runs and stole three bases.
• Yadier Molina hit two singles.
• Skip Schumaker and Rafael Furcal each hit a single.
• Jaime Garcia was awesome in his first game back from the DL. He went eight innings, gave up two unearned runs, struck out ten, and issued no walks.
• Jason Motte, Mitchell Boggs, Edward Mujica, Marc Rzepczynski, and Fernando Salas combined for four and a third innings of scoreless baseball to keep the Cardinals alive.
• Even after coming out of the rotation, Joe Kelly was an out away from getting his usual six innings of three runs or less pitching in. He pitched five and two thirds and allowed an earned run that tied the game back up.

Justin’s Jeers

• Matheny had a couple of bad decisions in the game that led to the loss. First off, he took Allen Craig’s bat out of the lineup in the ninth inning to put Daniel Descalso in to pinch run. Craig is no Usain Bolt, but he’s a more than capable runner. It would have made more sense to get him into scoring position before taking him out given there were no outs in the inning. The next big mistake he made was being to slow with the hook on Joe Kelly. Kelly pitched very well through five innings, but gave up a single, a wild pitch, and a hit by pitch to load the bases before Matheny finally pulled him.
• Barrett Browning was a wreck in the 19th, giving up three earned runs on four hits and a walk.
• Matt Holliday and David Freese went a combined 0-15. With a lineup full of .300 hitters and top RBI guys, it shouldn’t have been as much of a struggle as it was to score a single run on the Pirates bullpen.

Three Stars

3) Joe Kelly – Even though he gave up a run, Kelly came up big for the Cardinals, giving them almost six innings and saving the short relief guys a little bit of work.

2) Carlos Beltran – Beltran had two hits, both RBIs, and three steals.

1) Jaime Garcia – Jaime pitched a gem in his first game back and the offense wasted it.

Standings