7 outstanding and 4 poor efforts from Cardinals in Braves series win

The St Louis Cardinals’ weekend series against the Braves had an epic playoff feel. 

The Cardinals won two of the three games from the World Series reigning champion Braves this weekend. The Cardinals lost terribly on Friday, 11-4. They won a close one on Saturday, 6-5. They won a pitchers duel of a game turned homer fest on Sunday, 6-3.

After Sunday’s game, the Cardinals head to Cincinnati for a three-game set against the Reds to close out August. The Cardinals will look to continue their hot streak into September as they return to St. Louis Friday to take on the Cubs in a three-game set.

The Cardinals are now 74-54 on the season, sitting atop the NL Central with a six-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers.  The Cardinals are 7-3 in their last ten games and are on a two-game winning streak.

The Braves are 79-50 and three games back of the Mets in the NL East. The Braves are first in the Wild Card standings ahead of the Phillies and Padres. The Brewers are 1.5 games out of Wild Card contention.

The Cardinals won two out of their three games with the Braves this weekend. While they were significantly out of the Friday game, the Cardinals looked sharp and unwilling to give up on Saturday and Sunday. It was a solid effort from a team charging toward the playoffs. They looked strong and much like a complete team that would do anything to lift each other and win at all costs.

This should be a fun September for Cardinal fans as we fly to the playoffs.

Now let’s take a look at the outstanding efforts by the Cardinals as well as the poor performances.

The top performance of the weekend came from Tyler O’Neill.

Cardinals Tyler O’Neill shines against Braves

O’Neill appears to be dusting off his poor start to 2022. It’s better late than never.

On Friday, O’Neill was one-for-three, with a run and two RBI. He walked once, struck out once, and left four on the base path. O’Neill knocked his ninth home run of the season on a fly to left-center field, scoring Nolan Gorman. The homer traveled 406 feet at 105 mph.

On Saturday, O’Neill was 0-for-2 with a run, an RBI, and three walks.

With closer Kenley Jansen on the mound, Corey Dickerson singled on a grounder to Dansby Swanson, allowing Brendan Donovan to score. With the bases still loaded, O’Neill came to bat. As if Jansen wasn’t aware of the situation, he walked O’Neill to score the walk-off, allowing the Cardinals to win 6-5. It was an unbelievable scene.

On Sunday, O’Neill had one at bat, scoring a run and three RBI.

For a second night, O’Neill came up huge for the Cardinals. O’Neill hit his tenth home run of the season on a fly to center field in Freese’s Landing, scoring Lars Nootbaar and Brendan Donovan. The homer traveled 423 feet at 101.7 mph.

Let’s take a look at the other outstanding performances of the weekend.