7 standouts in Cardinals series win over Pirates

The St Louis Cardinals couldn’t pull off a series sweep over the Pittsburgh Pirates, but certainly did their part to make things interesting.

The St. Louis Cardinals took 3-of-4 games in their series with the Pittsburgh Pirates, including a doubleheader sweep on Tuesday.

The Cardinals won Monday 7-5. They swept Tuesday’s day-night doubleheader, 3-1 and 9-1 in the nightcap. On Wednesday, the Cardinals lost 6-4.

Monday evening’s game was full of excitement. Zack Thompson made his Busch Stadium debut. He went five innings, giving up seven hits, five earned runs, and two walks. He did stike out two batters.

T.J. McFarland  pitched 1.1 innings and struck out one batter. Giovanny Gallegos earned his second win of the season, pitching one inning and striking out one. Genesis Cabrera earned his ninth hold of the season, going two-thirds of an inning and striking out one.

Ryan Helsley earned his fifth save of the season as he pitched the ninth, striking out one.

The loss Wednesday came on a night of high expectations as they were not only going for a sweep but doing so on a night when Jack Flaherty made his season debut. He pitched three innings, giving up three hits, two walks, and four runs, two of which were earned. He did strike out three batters and induced seven swings and misses.

Johan Oviedo pitched 2.1 innings, giving up a hit and a walk, striking out one, and inducing one swing and miss.  Andre Pallante got the loss, his first of the season. He did pitch 2.1 innings, giving up two hits, and two earned runs including a home run to Bryan Reynolds. Pallante did strike out one and induced four swings and misses.

As he struck out one, T.J. McFarland pitched well in his 1.1 innings of work. It was good to see him throw with some confidence.

The Cardinals will have a well-deserved break on Thursday. They travel to Boston to take on the Red Sox at historic Fenway Park. This should be a fun series!

Now, let’s look at who stood out for the Cardinals in this series win over the Pirates.

Miles Mikolas

Miles Mikolas put on quite the show Tuesday evening as he took a no-hitter down to the final strike and final out of the game.

Cal Mitchell hit a ground-rule double on a liner to center field. Harrison Bader, who had made spectacular catches all evening, couldn’t catch up to the hit as it went over his head and bounced over the center-field wall. Mikolas himself noted that if anyone could have caught that ball, it would have been Bader.

It was a gut punch to see as Mikolas pitched so well and had excellent control over his pitches through his last pitch. Mikolas pitched 8.2 innings, giving up a hit, a walk, and a run. Bryan Reynolds reached on a fielding error by Juan Yepez. Reynolds got to third base on a ground out and scored on a Daniel Vogelbach ground out. So frustrating!

Mikolas struck out six batters while inducing 11 swings and misses.

Packy Naughton came in to get the final out of the game.

Hopefully, Mikolas gets some good rest and tries again in his next start.

Matthew Liberatore

Matthew Liberatore dusted off from a bad outing and looked excellent Tuesday afternoon, getting his second win of the season as he’s now 2-1.

Liberatore pitched five innings, giving up three hits and two walks. He struck out five batters while inducing nine swings and misses. Liberatore looked good and in control in his outing, which is great news for the Cardinals.

Drew VerHagen earned his second hold of the season in his inning of work. He gave up a hit and struck out one. Genesis Cabrera earned his 10th hold of the season going 1.1 innings, giving up two hits, including a home run to Yu Chang. He did strike out one batter.

Ryan Helsley pitched two-thirds of an inning, walking one batter while striking out one. He did induce four swings and misses while achieving a max velocity of 100.4 mph. Amazing.

Giovanny Gallegos earned his ninth save of the season pitching the ninth inning. He gave up a hit and struck out one, while inducing two swings and misses.

Dylan Carlson

Dylan Carlson had quite the night in his return from the injured list Monday.

Carlson was 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBI. Carlson hit his third homer of the year on a fly to right center field, scoring Brendan Donovan and Juan Yepez. The home run traveled 406 feet at 102.6 mph.

Carlson scored on a sacrifice bunt by Andrew Knizner. While Carlson scored, Knizner advanced to second base on an error by Yu Chang assisted by Ke’Bryan Hayes.

On Tuesday evening, he was 0-for-3 with a walk.

Carlson was 1-for-3 on Wednesday with a run and an RBI. Carlson knocked his fourth home run of the season in the second inning. The blast traveled 390 feet at 106 mph.

Brendan Donovan

Brendan Donovan is making a case to become the Rookie of the Year with his break out play since his call-up.

On Monday, Donovan was 3-for-4 wtih one run and two RBI. Donovan knocked. a double to right field, scoring Paul Goldscmidt and Tyler O’Neill.

On Tuesday afternoon, he was 1-for-4 with one walk and a run.

On Tuesday evening, Donovan was 4-for-5 with three runs and an RBI. In the second inning, he singled to right field, scoring Harrison Bader.

Donovan was 3-for-4 with a run and two RBI on Wednesday. Donovan hit a double to right field in the fifth inning, scoring Harrison Bader and Tommy Edman. Donovan scored as Tyler O’Neill grounded into a force out. The play tied things up at four, but the Cardinals were unable to get more runners across the plate as the Pirates ended their nine-game losing streak. Unfortunate news for Cardinals fans, indeed.

Tommy Edman

Tommy Edman is an All-Star. No question about it!

Edman was 3-for-5 on Tuesday evening with two runs and an RBI. Edman led off the game with his seventh home run of the season on a fly to right field off Bryse Wilson. The home run traveled 351 feet at 93.9 mph.

Edman was 1-for-5 on Monday.  On Wednesday, he was 1-for-4 with a run. He did walk once.

Yadier Molina

Yadier Molina is one amazing athlete.

Molina was 1-for-4 wtih one run in Tuesday afternoon’s game. In the fourth inning, Molina reached base on a throwing error by Diego Castillo, allowing him to reach second. Edmundo Sosa teached on another throwing error by Castillo.

With Nolan Gorman batting, Molina advanced to third base on a balk, which it appeared the future Hall of Famer helped the umpiring crew call. Molina calmly told the umpires he saw the balk, the crew gathered and moments later allowed Molina and Sosa to advance a base. Gorman ended up walking to load the bases.

Goldschmidt then reached on a fielder’s choice, allowing Molina to score.

That was excellent work by Molina.

Molina also made some history behind the plate as he passed Ivan ‘Pudge’ Rodriguez wtih the most career putouts in his career wtih 14,865.

That’s just amazing work from the future Hall of Fame catcher. What an epic achievement.