4 takeaways from St. Louis Cardinals series split with Nationals

Cardinals’ high expectations for Thursday were dashed

Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina tied the record for most starts as a battery at 324. This ties a record held by the Detroit Tigers’ Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan. Wainwright pitched five innings, giving up nine hits and four earned runs. He did strike out two.

Pallante earned the loss after another lousy outing of this series. He pitched a third of an inning, giving up two hits and an earned run. Jordan Hicks pitched 1.1 innings, giving up two hits, one walk, and two earned runs. He did strike out one batter.

Chris Stratton pitched 1.1 innings giving up a hit and striking out one.

James Naile pitched the final inning, giving up four hits, a walk, and four runs, including a homer to Alex Call, scoring Nelson Cruz and Cesar Hernandez.

Paul Goldschmidt got things off to a good start for the Cardinals in the first inning. He singled on a sharp liner to right field, scoring Brendan Donovan. Goldschmidt advanced to second thanks to a fielding error by Joey Meneses.

Yadier Molina hit a home run in the second inning on a fly to left field, scoring Alec Burleson. Molina homered again in the fourth inning on a fly to left field, tying things up at 4. It was so great to see Molina have a multi-home run game in such an important game for Wainwright and himself.

They didn’t give up down 11-4 in the ninth inning. Brendan Donovan singled on a line drive to left field. Tommy Edman singled on a grounder to left field. Paul DeJong grounded into a force out with Edman out at the second base. Andrew Knizner walked after pinch-hitting for Nolan Arenado.

Corey Dickerson singled on a grounder to left field, scoring Donovan and DeJong. Unfortunately, that was all they were able to muster.

It was a disappointing ending to a game with so much promise. Here’s hoping the Cardinals dust this loss off and are ready to battle the Pirates this weekend.