Good, Bad and Ugly: Cardinals avoid getting swept by Brewers

The Good

On Thursday, the Cardinals played like we want them too. And it was nice.

The scoring got started in the first for the Cardinals. Nolan Arenado hit his 31st double of the season to left field, scoring Tommy Edman.

Starting pitcher Jon Lester got in a little bit of trouble in the fourth giving up a double to Manny Pina to score Garcia. Wong singled to left field scoring Urias and Pina. Adames doubled to score Wong.

Things turned back positive for the Cardinals in the fifth inning. What makes it even better is that it came against Brewers co-ace Brandon Woodruff. Arenado singled to score Andrew Knizner. Tyler O’Neill knocked his 21st home run of the season to center field at 450 feet at 111.1 mph, scoring Goldschmidt and Arenado. Just something you love to see!

And if you don’t love that, you have to love the sound of “NOOT!” as Lars Nootbaar knocked his third homer of the season to right center, a 419 foot blast traveling 109.5 mph.

In the sixth, Edman doubled to center field scoring Austin Dean. Edman advanced to third base on a field error by Lorenzo Cain.

And in a moment you were happy to see happen to another team, Bader earned a walk whilst the bases were loaded. Yes, another team can walk the bases loaded. O’Neill scored on the walk given up by Miguel Sanchez.

Lester threw 4.1 innings, giving up six hits, three walks and four runs. Junior Fernandez earned his first victory of the season going two-thirds of an inning. Luis Garcia pitched one inning and struck out one. Genesis Cabrera pitched one inning, striking out one. Giovanny Gallegos pitched one inning, also striking out one. T.J. McFarland pitched the ninth inning, striking out an inning.

It was great to see the Cardinals battle back to take this game from the Brewers. It was even better to see the bullpen step up and be incredibly effective to keep the Cardinals in the game.

The Bad

On Wednesday, Alex Reyes was horrible on the mound. In two innings, he gave up three hits, four runs, including one that was earned off of Garcia’s home run. The three strikeouts he got seem too little too late when you look at what else happened with him on the mound.

It was depressing to see after Flaherty pitched six innings, giving up four hits, including the two homers to Garcia and Adames. He was able to strike out eight.

Genesis Cabrera and Giovanny Gallegos were great in their innings of work. Cabrera gave up no hits. Gallegos gave up a hit and a walk but was able to get two strikeouts.

In this game, Flaherty had one throwing error, Reyes had two throwing errors and Nootbaar had one fielding error.

Nolan Arenado made a costly error when he was ejected from the game in the eighth inning by first base umpire Alan Porter. Arenado struck out swinging in the seventh inning by Porter. As he was headed to man third base in the eighth, Arenado took his time running past Porter and colorfully noted his displeasure at some of Porter’s calls during the game.

When you consider Arenado’s position in the batting order came up during the ninth inning, he could have potentially played a part in bringing home a winner. It makes things worse when you consider the play involving Arenado’s replacement, Sosa, that lead to Urias scoring in the tenth. I understand being upset with the umpires, but for the team, it would have been great if Arenado could have kept his cool a little longer.

The Ugly

The missed opportunities was the ugliest thing about this series. They could have gained ground in the Central and most importantly the NL Wild Card. And then the inability to get timely hits in certain situation.  It was ugly, indeed.

On Tuesday, the team was zero for five with runners in scoring position and left seven on base. This is terrible to see when the team was shut out. So many opportunities. Even worse when you realize the Brewers only scored two runs. The Cardinals really missed out on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, they were four for 10 with runners in scoring position. They left 11 on base. That game was a heartbreaker and was blown toward the later innings. Had the Cardinals capitalized on those LOB or RISP, things could have been substantially different.

On Thursday, even with the win, they were three for 11 with runners in scoring position and left seven on base. Just happy to get the win in this case.

In conclusion, it would have been great to get a sweep against the Brewers but considering what happened, it was great to get a good win on Thursday.

The Cardinals are now 62-58. They are 11 back of the Brewers in the NL Central. They are 2.5 back of the Cincinnati Reds. The Cardinals are 3.5 back in the Wild Card standings.

Miles Mikolas returns to the mound on Friday as the Cardinals begin a three game set against the Pittsburgh Pirates at home. Should be exciting and hopefully the Cardinals can gain some more ground.