Takeaways from St. Louis Cardinals series against Diamondbacks

It didn’t look great, but the St. Louis Cardinals were able to split their series with the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend.

Thankfully the St. Louis Cardinals were able to salvage a split of their series with the Diamondbacks, looking good in their two wins while appearing to drag in their losses.

Thursday: Cardinals 8, D’backs 3

Dakota Hudson earned his second win of the season after throwing six innings, giving up a hit and three walks. He was able to strike out four. Aaron Brooks pitched 2.2 innings, giving up four hits, and three runs including a home run to Pavin Smith. He struck out two. Nick Wittgren pitched the final third of an inning, giving up one hit and a walk while striking out one.

The Cardinals’ eight runs will be discussed in the good section.

Friday: Cardinals 2, D’backs 6

Paul Goldschmidt knocked his first home run of the season after a 12-pitch at-bat off of Madison Bumgarner. In the seventh inning, with Paul DeJong’s at-bat, Bader scored on a balk and advanced to second base.

The remainder of the game will be discussed in the Ugly section.

Saturday: Cardinals 0, D’backs 2

Miles Mikolas pitched an amazing 7.1 innings while striking out seven. He looked great and then appeared to have been left in too long in the eighth inning, giving up two home runs, one to Ketel Marte and the other to Nick Ahmed.

Genesis Cabrera pitched two-thirds of an inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.  Jake Woodford pitched the final inning.

Sunday: Cardinals 7, D’backs 5

The Cardinals battled back to take the final game of the series. The Cardinals snapped their home run drought while a struggling young pitcher got the no-decision.

The runs will be discussed in the Good section while the struggles will be in the Ugly section.

The Cardinals will take on the Kansas City Royals in St. Louis Monday afternoon before heading to Kansas City for a two-game set.

The Good

On Thursday, the offense got started in the first inning as Tyler O’Neill hit a sacrifice fly to right field, allowing Tommy Edman to score. Corey Dickerson hit a sacrifice fly to center field, allowing Paul Goldschmidt to score.

In the second inning, Edman hit a line drive to left field, to score Harrison Bader. Goldschmidt singled to left field, scoring Paul DeJong. O’Neill hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Edman.  In the sixth inning, Edman singled to center, scoring Bader. Edman moved up to second on a throwing error. Goldschmidt knocked a line drive to left field, scoring Yadier Molina and Edman.

Yadier Molina even got a stolen base in this game. You have to see it.

On Sunday, Harrison Bader reached on a fielder’s choice in the third inning, allowing Paul DeJong to score. O’Neill grounded into a force-out, allowing Edman to score. In the fifth inning, Albert Pujols singled to center field, scoring O’Neill.

In the seventh inning, Brendan Donovan grounded out, allowing Andrew Knizner to score. This was Donovan’s first MLB RBI of his career.

Harrison Bader knocked his first home run of the season to left-center field, scoring DeJong. Nolan Arenado broke his home run streak, knocking his sixth blast of the season on a fly to left field.

Kodi Whitley earned his second win of the season pitching one-third of an inning while striking out one.

Ryan Helsley earned his first save of the season pitching two scoreless innings, topping out at 103.1 mph. He struck out four batters.

The Bad

Not scoring at a critical time has been another issue the Cardinals have faced this series.

On Thursday, the Cardinals were 5-for-11 with runners in scoring position. They had nine runners left of the base. Runners left in scoring position with two outs including Dickerson twice and Goldschmidt.

On Friday, the Cardinals were 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position. They had six runners left on base. Runners left in scoring position with two outs including Albert Pujols and twice for Goldschmidt.

On Saturday, the Cardinals were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. They had five runners left of the base. Runners left in scoring position with two outs including Dylan Carlson twice and Goldschmidt.

On Sunday, the Cardinals were 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Dylan Carlson was the lone runner left in scoring position with two outs. The team had five runners left on base.