6 key St. Louis Cardinals performers in Giants series

It was a good weekend for the St. Louis Cardinals as they won their series with the San Francisco Giants.

After a terrible loss Friday, the Cardinals put on an absolute show for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball to win their series with the Giants.

The Cardinals lost Friday 8-2. The Cardinals won on Saturday 4-0. On Sunday, The Cardinals won 15-6.

The loss on Friday featured terrible hitting and worse from the pitching staff.

Jordan Hicks pitched five innings, giving up three hits, two walks, and three earned runs. He was able to strike out three while inducing seven swings and misses. Hicks topped out on pitching velocity at 101 mph. This was his third loss of the season.

Packy Naughton pitched 1.1 innings, giving up a hit and a walk while striking out three batters while inducing four swings and misses. Jake Walsh pitched two-thirds of an inning, walking one and striking out one while inducing two swings and misses.

Nick Wittgren had a rough third of an inning, giving up a hit and a walk, and two earned runs. T.J. McFarland’s two-thirds of an inning was worse, giving up three hits and three earned runs. He was able to strike out one.

Jake Woodford pitched the final inning, giving up two walks while striking out one and inducing two swings and misses.

The line-up was 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left six runners on base. Harrison Bader and Tyler O’Neill each grounded into double plays.

The Cardinals looked better in the 4-0 victory on Saturday. With solid pitching and some good at-bats, the Cardinals got a big win.

Brendan Donovan got the scoring started for the Cardinals in the second inning. Donovan knocked a double on a liner to right field, scoring Yadier Molina.

This was Dakota Hudson’s third win of the season.  The bullpen then stepped up to help shut out the Giants.

Dakota Hudson looked great earning his third win of the season on Saturday.

Hudson pitched five innings, giving up two walks and five hits while striking out two while inducing two swings and misses. Hudson’s pitches ranged in the low 90s and high 80s.

Genesis Cabrera earned his fourth hold of the season with one inning of work where he struck out two.  Andre Pallante earned his second hold of the season going one-third of an inning, giving up two hits and a walk. Ryan Helsley earned his fourth hold of the season, walking one and striking out one. Helsley’s pitching velocity topped out at 101.1 mph.

Giovanny Gallegos pitched the ninth inning, giving up a hit while striking out two and inducing four swings and misses.

Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina started their 311th game as a battery on Sunday, earning their 203rd victory together. The win makes them the winningest battery in MLB history. Amazing!

Wainwright looked sharp in six innings of working, giving up three hits, two walks, and two earned runs. He, unfortunately, gave up a homer to Joc Pederson. Wainwright had five strikeouts and induced seven swings and misses. He is now 4-3 on the season.

T.J. McFarland pitched an inning giving up one hit and struck out one while inducing three swings and misses. Drew VerHagen pitched an inning, walking one. The final pitcher of the game was quite a surprise in Albert Pujols. We’ll discuss his performance later in this post.

The Cardinals, now 19-15 on the season, looked great on Saturday and Sunday. They looked like they were having fun. Hopefully, they keep this up as they hit the road. They have a four-game set with the New York Mets beginning Monday at Citi Field.