7 shining moments in Cardinals series with Phillies

More problems with RISP and LOBs

On Friday, the Cardinals were 0-for-3  with seven runners left on base. Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt each had two hits. Nolan Gorman and Dylan Carlson had one hit each. Carlson also struck out twice.

On Saturday, the Cardinals were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left six runners on base. The Cardinals only got two hits on the afternoon, one from Andrew Knizner and Lars Nootbaar. The lineup struck out seven times.

While the Cardinals did win Sunday, it could have been by a larger margin. The Cardinals were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. The Cardinals left ten runners on base. Goodness. It’s terrible to see such a talented team have these bad moments on what’s become a regular basis of late.

Giovanny Gallegos blows game once again

Giovanny Gallegos is fun to watch when he is on, but the mistakes made when he’s not right can be just devastating.

The Phillies and Cardinals were tied at zero all when Gallegos came in to pitch the ninth.
with Mickey Moniak on base, Alec Bohn knocked a sacrifice fly to, once again, score the winning run. Gallegos is now 2-3 on the season.

Dakota Hudson had a good start going six innings, giving up two hits and two walks while striking out four batters.

Genesis Cabrera had a good two-thirds of an inning of work. He walked two but also struck out two batters. Jordan Hicks closed out the seventh inning. Ryan Helsley pitched the eighth inning, giving up only a hit and a walk.

It was good to see Hudson have a better start on Saturday. Despite the ultimate result, let’s hope he builds on it in future outings.

Pujols comes up huge Sunday

Cardinals legendary first baseman Albert Pujols had a 3-for-4 afternoon for the club.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Pujols hit his fifth home run of the season and 684th of his career. The home run was knocked off Cristopher Sanchez on a fly to center field, traveling 409 feet at 105 mph.

In the second inning, Lars Nootbaar hit a single to left field to score Nolan Arenado. In the seventh, the score was tied up at 3 as Nolan Gorman grounded out to the first base to score Austin Romine.

In the eighth inning, Tommy Edman knocked a sacrifice fly to center field allowing Dylan Carlson to make a fantastic slide, avoiding a tag from JT Realmuto.

Carlson was originally called out but the Cardinals requested the play be reviewed which allowed a review that showed Carlson completely avoiding the tag and scoring the winning run.

Jordan Hicks earns the win with Helsley getting a save

Andre Pallante got the start Sunday going 5.2 innings, giving up nine hits, a walk, and three earned runs, including a home run to Kyle Schwarber in the fifth inning. Pallante did strike out four batters and induced nine swings and misses.

Johan Oviedo pitched 1.1 innings, giving up two hits and striking out two while inducing three swings and misses.

Hicks is now 2-4 on the season, pitching the eighth inning and striking out one. Hicks velocity topped out at 101 mph. Ryan Helsley got his seventh save of the season pitching the ninth. Helsley’s velocity topped out at 102 mph.

Miles Mikolas burns more than sage in win

Prior to Sunday’s game against the Phillies, Mikolas was observed walking around the outfield burning sage. It may seem a little out of the ordinary. But the Cardinals won on Sunday after a couple of painful games on Friday and Saturday when they couldn’t get anything going.

Mikolas extended the wisdom gained from the sage burning, pitching 7.1 innings, giving up six hits and one earned run, a homer to Rhys Hoskins. Mikolas struck out five and induced 11 swings and misses.

Genesis Cabrera pitched one inning, striking out one. Junior Fernandez pitched two-thirds of an inning, giving up two hits while striking out one.

Corey Dickerson steps up as Pujols breaks another record

The Cardinals had their best inning in some time in the fifth inning of Monday’s game. Corey Dickerson singled to center field to score Dylan Carlson. Edmundo Sosa doubled to left field, scoring Dickerson. Andrew Knizner single d to right field, to score Sosa.

Albert Pujols got on base in the seventh inning, with a double that was inches away from being a home run. The double was the 1,378th extra-base hit of his career moving him ahead of Hall of Famer and Cardinals legend Stan Musial for third all-time. Unreal!

Dickerson knocked his third home run of the season with a fly to right-center field, scoring Pujols. The home run traveled 395 feet at 101.6 mph.

Lars Nootbaar joined the hit parade knocking his third homer of the season, with a fly to right field.  The home run traveled 390 feet at 102.1 mph.

It was so good to see the Cardinals string together some hits and score some runs. It seemed like so long since we had seen them do this and it was great.