Sunday afternoon marked the end of the first successful road trip of the St. Louis Cardinals as they finished with a series win against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium 2 games to 1. While the Royals salvaged game 3 to avoid a series sweep, their highway rivalry loss to their St. Louis neighbors put a nice bow on the road trip for a scorching hot Cardinals team.
In game 1, the Birds spoiled the Royals’ ceremony honoring the 1985 World Series team with an explosion of offense which overwhelmed Kansas City. Cardinals’ starting pitcher Andre Pallante took the mound and put up 7 innings of 2 run ball where he continued to be a ground ball machine, where he’s produced ground balls 64.2% of the time. In the 6th the Cardinals busted game the wide open with a bases clearing double by Cardinals DH Ivan Herrera. But while Herrera finished 4-5 with 3 RBI’s and 2nd baseman Brendon Donovan 3-5, the Cardinals produced offense up and down the lineup to win 10-3. Pallante earned his 4th win (4-2).
But while the Cardinals have shown that they have the offense to win games, game 2 proved that the Birds-on-the-Bat are capable of winning games conservatively with dialed pitching and attention-to-detail defense.
This time, St. Louis spoiled the Royals pre-game ceremony honoring the 2015 World Series Championship. Cardinal’s starter Miles Mikolas pitched 6 innings of 2 hit ball without surrendering a run. While the running joke is that Mikolas doesn’t seem to get any run support, the Cardinals gave him just enough; a solo homer by right-fielder Jordon Walker was the only run scored by either team. RHP Kyle Leahy continued his dominate season with two innings of scoreless relief, and closer Ryan Helsley finished off a frustrated Royals lineup to earn another save (9) in a 1-0 shutout to finish game 2. Mikolas earned his 3rd win of the season (3-2).
“It means everything. We’ve been fighting and clawing. We’ve faced some good teams, and this team (Royals) was on a roll,” Right-fielder Jordan Walker said following game 2. “It’s just unbelievable stuff on the defensive side. Pitchers are holding it down, man, and I think it’s all going well.”
On top of good pitching, the razzle dazzle of the Cardinals gloves shined throughout the whole game.
In the bottom of the 4th, Victor Scott II caught what would have been an RBI extra-base-hit from Royals first-baseman Vinnie Pasquantino up against the fence in center. Middle infielders Masyn Winn and Brendon Donovan performed a slick double play to avoid late inning disaster in the 8th with only a one-run lead. Shortstop Masyn Winn followed that up with a 9th inning magic act where he fielded a screamer to his right from his knees, popped up, and fired a rocket deep in the hole while falling to the ground to record a magnificent assist in the 9th. Defense means everything with only a one-run lead, and the Cardinals have proven themselves in those situations lately.
In game 3, the Cardinals couldn’t hold onto the sweep. Matthew Liberatore gave the Cardinals a chance (6 innings, 1 ER, 5K’s). While the bats stayed hot with 12 hits, the offense failed to produce with runners in scoring position, as left-fielder Alec Burleson was the lone St. Louis RBI, hitting a 4th inning solo homer (4). Ultimately, it was a game of missed opportunities.
“It was a well played game,” Cardinal’s manager Oliver “Oli” Marmol said following game 3. “We had a lot of opportunities that just didn’t come through. That’s something we’ve actually done well recently.”
The Cardinals drive down the highway back to Busch to begin a homestand with the flaming hot Detroit Tigers (31-16) on Monday night. Game start time is at 5:45 p.m. e.t.
The Cardinals are 26-21 and 2nd in the NL Central.
I'm a writer trying to make his mark in the baseball journalism world. I graduated with a journalism degree from Union University where I pitched four years of D2 baseball.
