The St. Louis Cardinals were not intimidated to be facing off with Tarik Skubal and the Dodgers. They came out of the gate swinging – literally – and Quinn Mathews did his part to give the Cardinals a fighting chance Thursday night in Los Angeles. They came so close to sweeping the Dodgers, but the last half-inning of the game would betray them.
St. Louis jumped on Skubal in inning 1. I don't know this for a fact, but I suspect there was a strategy to try to drive up Tarik's pitch count. José Fermín singled on the 7th pitch of his at-bat leading off the first. Iván Herrera followed that with a single of his own on the 6th pitch he saw giving the Cardinals runners on first and third with nobody out. After Jordan Walker struck out on a high fastball, Joshua Báez did not swing for the fences, but instead smartly drove a ball through the right side of the infield for a single giving the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead.
It looked like it might develop into something bigger as Leo Bernal barreled the first pitch he saw, but the laser beam off his bat went directly into Mookie Betts glove at short which doubled off Herrera at second as he wandered too far off of the base.
Tarik Skubal's pitch count reached into the 50's by the top of the 3rd inning and the Cardinals bats were making almost constant contact and it resulted in another run. Herrera led off the top of the 3rd with a single. Three batters later, Leo Bernal smacked a firm single to center giving St. Louis runners at first and second with two outs. Ramón Urías came up with a clutch two-out single to left which scored Herrera giving the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.
Quinn Mathews ended up in a jam in the bottom of the 3rd inning not all of his own making. The official scorer gave Tommy Edman a single leading off the bottom of the 3rd, but the reality is it was the result of a lack of communication between the infield and right field which has been problematic as of late. Mathews did strike out Mookie Betts for the first out, but Teoscar Hernandez added a single giving the Dodgers runners at first and second with just one out. After Freddie Freeman flew out to left, Quinn walked Will Smith to load the bases. It's a good thing that the soft liner from the next batter Rojas ended up in Ramon Urias glove at third to end the inning with no Dodger runs scored – just the way we like it.
Potential trouble again reared its head in the bottom of the 5th inning when Tommy Edman led off with a single. Quinn Mathews then walked Mookie Betts to give the Dodgers runners at first and second with no one out. Teoscar Hernandez grounded into a fielder's choice with the force at second, but no double play. That brought up the always dangerous Freddie Freeman. It wasn't Freeman that knocked in the first LA run, but a ball that got away from Pedro Pagés to the backstop for a passed ball and the Cardinals lead cut in half at 2-1. Mathews was able to nurse a groundout out of Freeman for the second out and then escaped the inning when Will Smith flew out to Nathan Church to end the inning with his pitch count barely below 100.
Quinn Mathews final line for the night was solid and probably could have been even better if a couple of defensive plays had been made behind him that weren't. He gave St. Louis 5 innings allowing just 4 hits and 1 earned run while striking out 4 and walking 4. The high number of walks is the only real wart on his effort Thursday night.
Thursday night was the perfect example of why Tarik Skubal is so good. The Cardinals collected 10 hits against him going into the 6th inning when Leo Bernal lined another single into center to leadoff the inning, but he managed to tighten up his pitch efficiency and only began to approach the 100 mark at the end of the top of the 6th inning. Yes, the Cardinals were in double digits for hits, but they were scattered and St. Louis only milked two runs out of it all. He didn't have his best stuff Thursday night, but he kept the Dodgers in the game going into the later innings. Manager Dave Roberts finally lifted him with 2 outs and 2 on in the top of the 6th inning when he reached 102 pitches. Oli Marmol countered the Dodgers bringing in right-hander Henrique out of the bullpen by pinch-hitting Alec Burleson for Pedro Pagés. As Burleson worked the count full, Henrique bounced a ball to the backstop which allowed both Cardinals runners to advance to second and third. That ended up resulting in nothing as Burleson was called out on a ball that looked like it was out of the strike zone, but he chose not to use an ABS challenge and that was it for the Cardinals top of the 6th.
Cade Winquest was the first arm out of the Cardinals bullpen in the bottom of the 6th inning. He handled the Dodgers with no problems and no baserunners – just the way we like it.
The Cardinals tried to add to their lead in the top of the 7th inning. I'm not blaming Herrera for St. Louis not scoring, but he used a challenge with one out in the top of the 7th that was fairly obviously a ball that clipped the strike zone and the ABS challenge proved that true. He eventually grounded out, but Jordan Walker smoked a two-out single to left center and then Joshua Baez was hit by a pitch in the belt buckle which sounds worse than it really was. That gave the Cardinals runners at first and second with Leo Bernal up. He ended up striking out looking on a four-seam fastball that looked like it might have been inside. He started to tap his helmet, but then realized that St. Louis was out of challenges and walked back to the bench for the end of the Cardinals 7th with no runs scored.
Ryne Stanek entered the game in the bottom of the 7th. He got Freeland to fly out for the first out and struck out Tommy Edman for the second. Mookie Betts lined up ball up the middle that it looked like Ryne caught with his foot. He didn't as he tossed the ball to first for the final out of the inning, but I still don't know how Stanek caught that ball. When the TV broadcast FINALLY showed a replay after the hot dog commercial break, the ball appears to have ricocheted off of the mound into his glove. Thank you, weird physics.
After the Cardinals failed to score in the top of the 8th, it was George Soriano on the mound for St. Louis in the bottom of the 8th to face the middle of the LA lineup. He gave up a leadoff walk to Teoscar Hernandez and two outs later a walk to Max Muncy giving (literally) the Dodgers a runner in scoring position. George then threw 3 straight balls to slumping Kyle Tucker before registering a strike, but ended up walking him anyway to load the bases. That brought out pitching coach Dusty Blake to the mound for a conference where I hope the phrase "NO MORE FREAKING WALKS!" was uttered. Whatever was said apparently worked as Soriano struck out Dalton Rushing for the final out of the inning to end the Dodgers 8th. Whew!
I don't speak for the Cardinals fanbase, but I'm pretty sure that I wasn't alone hoping that the St. Louis lineup would add a run or two in the top of the 9th inning to lower my blood pressure by a few meters. Alec Burleson led off by striking out looking which wasn't ideal. Fermin grounded out weakly to the pitcher for the second out which also wasn't according to my (and probably others) wishes. It was up to Iván Herrera to keep the Cardinals from going into the bottom of the 9th with merely a one-run lead. He came SO close to succeeding as he drove a ball to the left field wall, but not over as it was caught so to the bottom of the 9th we go with a perilous one-run lead.
The bottom of the 9th was in closer Riley O'Brien's hand. He got Freeland to flyout innocently to center for the first out. Former Cardinal Tommy Edman was next. Edman hit a sharp single to left and represented the tying run at first base. He ended up stealing second when a ball nearly hit the next batter Mookie Betts, but it didn't matter at the moment when he ended up walking giving the Dodgers the potential winning run on base. Teoscar Hernandez was next up. On a full count, he ripped a game-winning double into the left-centerfield gap scoring 2 and giving LA a 3-2 victory. Dodgers win and we lose. Baseball has a way of breaking your heart, doesn't it?
The St. Louis Cardinals head east from California, but not that far east as they'll land in Denver on Friday for a weekend series against the Colorado Rockies. Andre Pallante returns from the injured list to the mound for the Cardinals while the Rockies will give the ball to Ryan Feltner. First pitch is scheduled for 7:40pm central time and the game broadcast will be available via Cardinals.tv.
