Good, Bad and Ugly from Cardinals series with Marlins

The St. Louis Cardinals got their brooms out for a sweep, but the Miami Marlins had other plans.

It wasn’t necessarily easy for the St. Louis Cardinals, but they were able to take the series from the Miami Marlins in Miami’s loanDepot park.

Tuesday, Cardinals 5, Marlins 1

In his 307th start with Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright looked sharp through 5.2 innings. He gave up two walks and five hits, including a home run to Bryan De La Cruz. It was the only run scored by the Marlins, as he was able to strike out six batters and get some help from the bullpen to shut down the Marlins. This was his second win of the season, he’s now 2-1.

In the second inning, Paul DeJong doubled to left field, scoring Albert Pujols. Molina reached on a throwing error by Jazz Chisholm Jr., allowing DeJong to score.

In the third inning, Tyler O’Neill singled to center field allowing Paul Goldschmidt to score. O’Neill was out at second base after a throw from Jesus Sanchez to Chisholm. Tommy Edman tripled to right field, scoring Pujols all the way from first base. Take a look at Pujols run this out!

In the fifth inning, Edman singled to left field, scoring O’Neill.

T.J. McFarland pitched one inning, giving up two hits but making it out of the inning with no runs. Ryan Helsley pitched 1.1 innings, giving one hit, but striking out three. Giovanny Gallegos closed out the final inning, striking out one.

Wednesday, Cardinals 2, Marlins 0

Fans got a real pitchers duel between Miles Mikolas and the Marins Sandy Alcantara

Alcantara went eight innings for the Marlins, giving up four hits, a walk but struck out six. Mikolas pitched five innings, giving up four hits but striking out five. Rookie reliever Andre Pallante had a shut down two innings of work, striking out three batters. Genesis Cabrera was sharp in his inning of work, walking one but striking out one. Gallegos looked great in his inning of work, giving up a hit and walking one, but struck out two.

It was Molina’s 150th career shutout behind the plate making him second in MLB history. Amazing mark for the future Hall of Famer.

With Anthony Bender on the mound for the Marlins, Nolan Arenado hit his fifth home run of the season to left center, scoring Tyler O’Neill.

Take a look!

So happy Nolan Arenado is a Cardinal!

Thursday, Cardinals 0, Marlins 5

Jordan Hicks got the loss in his first start for the Cardinals. He went three innings, giving up two hits, two walks and an earned run. He did strikeout three.

In the second inning, Brian Anderson reached on a fielder’s choice, fielded by Tommy Edman. Jesus Sanchez scored as Jesus Aguilar and Joey Wendle moved up. There was a missed catch error by Paul DeJong.

In the fourth inning, Jesus Sanchez scored on a passed ball by Yadier Molina.  In the sixth inning, Jesus Sanchez hit a home run to right-center field off Aaron Brooks. In the seventh, Jazz Chisholm Jr., homered to right-center field off Brooks to score Brian Anderson.

While Arenado was 3-for-4, the Cardinals weren’t able to create any offense off Marlins pitcher Pablo Lopez, who earned his second win of the season. He threw seven innings, giving up three hits. He struck out nine batters. Tanner Scott and Anthony Bass each pitched an inning, giving up one hit and striking out two.

The Cardinals did not look great but must reset as they head to Cincinnati for a three-game set against the Reds.

Let’s discuss the good, bad, and ugly of this series.