Redbirds Week in Review—8/20/12 to 8/26/12

With Monday an off day, the Cardinals started the week on Tuesday with a 3 game series against the Astros at Busch Stadium.  They ended the week with a 3 game series against the Reds in Cincinnati.  It was a good week, the Cardinals going 5-1 for the 6 games, which included a sweep of the Astros.  The Cardinals are now in Pittsburgh for a series against the Pirates followed by a 4 game series against the Nationals in DC.  The Astros and Reds series’recaps follow.

Tuesday August 21, 2012—Cardinals 7 Astros 0

The Birds start the series with Adam Wainwright on the mound. The Cardinals get on the board in the 1st, scoring 4 runs against Astros pitcher and Missouri native Lucas Harrell.  Jon Jay doubles to left followed by a Matt Carpenter ground out to move Jay to third.  Jay scores on a balk by Harrell.  Matt Holliday then singles to right, Allen Craig singles to right, and David Freese singles to right to load the bases.  A bloop single to left by Yadier Molina scores Holliday, Craig and Freese advance.  A sharp ground ball off the bat of Skip Schumaker past a diving Jose Altuve scores Craig and Freese.  4-0 Redbirds.  In the 3rd, Allen Craig draws a walk and then advances to second on a wild pitch.  David Freese then draws a walk and Yadier Molina singles to left, scoring Craig.  After Skip Schumaker grounds into a force out, Rafael Furcal sends a sac fly to right to score Freese from third.  6-0 Cardinals.  The Cardinals add one more run in the 6th when Rafael Furcal doubles to left and Jon Jay singles to center to score Furcal.  Adam Wainwright goes the distance against the Astros, keeping them scoreless for all 9 innings to garner his second shutout of the season.

Wednesday August 22, 2012—Cardinals 4 Astros 2

The Astros get on the board in the 1st scoring 1 run off of starter Kyle Lohse, who gives up a home run to Brett Wallace  The Cardinals come back in the second to tie the game, off a single to center by Allen Craig, and a double to center by Daniel Descalso.  The Astros take the lead again in the third when Kyle Lohse gives up his second home run of the game to Chris Snyder.  The Cardinals battle back in the 5th, scoring two more runs off of Redbird nemesis Bud Norris. Rafael Furcal singles to right and Kyle Lohse bunts him to second.  Jon Jay singles to right to score Furcal and advances to second on the throw to the plate.  A ground out by Matt Carpenter moves Jay to third, who then scores the second run on a wild pitch.  The Cardinals add an insurance run in the 8th on a double by Matt Holliday and an RBI single by Yadier Molina.  Kyle Lohse gets the win.

Thursday August 23, 2012—Cardinals 13 Astros 5

The game starts out not so good for the Cardinals, as the Astros score 4 runs off of starter Jake Westbrook in the 1st, 2nd and 4th innings.  But in the bottom of the 4th, the Birds’ luck changed when they scored three runs off of Astro’s rookie Dallas Kuechel.   With two outs, Carlos Beltran draws a walk.  Yadier Molina then hits a ground rule double that bounces over the right field wall.  David Freese then blast a 3 run jack to right field.  Jake Westbrook gives up another run to the Astros in the 5th, making the score 5-3.  In the bottom of the 5th, the Cardinals plate 5 more runs.  Rafael Furcal singles to center, followed by a Ryan Jackson single to right.  Jon Jay lays down a sac bunt, but is safe at first on a throwing error, thus loading the bases.  Allen Craig then singles to score Furcal, Matt Holliday doubles to score Jackson, Jay, and Craig, and Yadier Molina singles to score Holliday and is then tagged out between first and second base.  In the 6th, a Jon Jay double followed by an Allen Craig double scores another run.  In the 8th the Cardinals add 4 more.  Shane Robinson leads off with a double to left. Rafael Furcal follows with an RBI single to right.  Jon Jay then singles to right, then Allen Craig singles to right to score Furcal.  With Jon Jay on third, Matt Holliday singles to right for the third run.  After Carlos Beltran flies out, Tony Cruz singles to move Craig to third and Holliday to second.  David Freese then singles to score Craig for the final run.  Astros fail to score in the 9th and Jake Westbrook gets the win.

Friday August 24, 2012—Cardinals 8 Reds 5

Lance Lynn on the bump.  Lynn is not sharp at all and gives up 2 Reds runs in the 1st and one more in the 2nd. The Cardinals score one run in the second when Allen Craig singles to center and then Yadier Molina singles again to center, advancing Craig to third.  David Freese then ground into a double play, but Craig scores.  In the 3rd, after Lance Lynn gives up consecutive singles to Brandon Phillips and Ryan Ludwick, he is replaced by Joe Kelly.  After Kelly gets the first out, Todd Frazier singles to score Phillips.  Kelly then strikes out the last two batters to end the inning.  In the 4th, Yadier Molina singles to center and then advances to second on a wild pitch.  David Freese then hits a single to score Molina.  Reds lead 4-2.  The Reds add another run in the 5th off of Joe Kelly.  The Cardinals break the game open in the 6th against Reds pitcher Mat Latos, scoring 6 runs. Carlos Beltran leads off with an infield single, followed by a Matt Holliday line drive single to right.  Allen Craig then hits a dead red (pun intended) 3 run home run to center.  Yadier Molina follows with a solo home run to right field.  David Freese walks, Skip Schumaker singles to left, and Rafael Furcal singles to center, scoring Freese and advancing Schumaker to third.  Matt Carpenter then hits a sac fly to score Schumaker.  No more runs are scored by either team and the Redbirds prevail by a score of 8-5.  Joe Kelly gets the win.

Saturday August 25, 2012—Cardinals 2 Reds 8

This was the only loss for the Birds for the week.  It was a Jaime Garcia start which went well until the 6th. Garcia gave up one Reds run in the 3rd.  The Cardinals get on the board in the 5th to tie the game at 1-1.  Tony Cruz lead off single to center, followed by a Rafael Furcal single, a Jon Jay single, and Matt Carpenter sac fly to score Cruz from third.  Things unraveled for Garcia in the 6th, when a questionable call by the 1B umpire thwarts a textbook double play ground ball from Todd Frazier, scoring one run and leaving an extra man on.  Garcia immediately gives up a 2 run home run to Jay Bruce, making the score 4-1 run in favor of the Reds.  The Cardinals get one run back in the 7th, when Tony Cruz again leads off with a single and Rafael Furcal singles to right field, advancing Cruz to third.  A double play ground out by Shane Robinson scores Cruz.  Garcia is replaced for the 7th inning by Brandon Dickson who gets the first two outs, but can’t get the third out before giving up 4 runs.  It was a brutal inning for Dickson and spelled game over for the Cardinals who were unable to come back in the 8th or the 9th.  Jaime Garcia took the loss.

Sunday August 26, 2012—Cardinals 8 Reds 2

Much better game for the Redbirds, with Adam Wainwright on the mound.  The Cardinals score first in the 3rd inning, scoring 3 runs against Homer Bailey.  Skip Schumaker leads off with a double to center field.  After Rafael Furcal flies out, Adam Wainwright hits a single to left.  Jon Jay then singles to score Schumaker, Matt Carpenter singles and Matt Holliday singles to score Wainwright and Jay.  The Cardinals add to their lead in the 6th, scoring two more runs on a lead off triple by Matt Holliday and a 2 run home run by Allen Craig.  After holding the Reds scoreless for 5 innings, Wainwright falters in the 6th, giving up two consecutive singles.  Some poor defense by Rafael Furcal adds fuel to the fire, when a wide throw by Furcal to Skip Schumaker prevents a double play from being turned, and a follow up single scores a run.  A second double play is thwarted when Furcal is unable to get the ball out of his glove in time to get the out at first and extending the inning.  The second run scored on a another single by Ryan Ludwick.  Wainwright is replaced by Marc Rzepczynski in the 6th, who gets the final out of the inning.  The Cardinals get those 2 runs back in the 7th, when Shane Robinson leads off with an infield single and is advanced to second on a ground out by Jon Jay.  Matt Holliday doubles to left to score Robinson, and Allen Craig singles to score Holliday.  The Cardinals add one more run in the 9th on a Matt Carpenter double and a Jon Jay single and win the game 8-2 to take the series from the Reds.  Adam Wainwright gets his 13th win.